Kendra S. Horn: “I want to praise the gentleman on behalf of the Arts Caucus, which is much more than 130 in this Chamber. I appreciate…”

“I want to praise the gentleman on behalf of the Arts Caucus, which is much more than 130 in this Chamber. I appreciate all he has done, both in the committee and are going to do. I would say to my friend, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Stearns), the fact is we are not talking about funding the great symphonies of America. They can find the money in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Boston. We are concerned about kids that live in urban America that have never seen a symphony, never seen an opera, never seen any aspect of the arts. Let me say, in the last 5 years there has been a complete turnaround. It is not only the people in urban America, it is where I grew up in rural America. In the 1930s, I can remember as a 6-year-old seeing this wonderful WPA symphony. That came to Hollister, California, population 3,000. It inspired me to be a musician. Those are the communities we are talking about throughout America, and William Ivey has done just an outstanding job as administrator of the Endowment. I would hope the gentleman would actually withdraw his amendment.”