Josh Brecheen: “This amendment reduces funding for the National Endowment for the Arts back to 2019 levels. It is a modest cut at $49…”

“This amendment reduces funding for the National Endowment for the Arts back to 2019 levels. It is a modest cut at $49 million, an overall cut of less than 0.13 percent of the entire bill. This leaves $155 million for the program on which to operate. There is nothing inherently wrong with artistic programs, but there is something wrong about continuing to increase Washington's deficit spending on unnecessary programs when our national debt is at $35 trillion and climbing. This commonsense amendment simply returns us back to pre-COVID spending levels. To help my colleagues understand how bad Washington's spending problem is, the CBO projects a deficit of $1.9 trillion for fiscal year 2025. That will grow to $2.9 trillion in another 10 years by 2034. This excessive spending is going to drive our national debt to record levels. It is going to exacerbate the inflation crisis that all Americans are feeling. We all know the average family of four is struggling to afford the same goods and services as compared to January 2021, spending $1,300 per month more to afford those goods because of devaluation of their currency. That is $16,000 over the course of a year. According to Zillow, Americans are also now having to earn $106,000 in order to comfortably afford a home. That is an 80 percent increase from the suggested income of $59,000 just in 2020.…”