Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Rhode Island for convening this Special Order hour and for his incredible leadership on this issue of the importance of the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, not only here in Congress, but for what the gentleman does back in Rhode Island to ensure that all Rhode Islanders have the ability to experience and enjoy the beauty of the arts and culture in our great State. As the gentleman knows, and I am sure he has referenced, we come from the State of the late Senator Claiborne Pell, the founder of the National Endowment for the Arts. So we feel a special privilege, and it is a great honor to stand and defend this great institution. As has been mentioned, art not only nourishes our soul, but it makes us more human and creates beauty in the world. We have had a number of events recently in Rhode Island where we have brought in invited artists and people who enjoy art to speak about what the impact might mean if we defunded the National Endowment for the Arts. There were so many beautiful words that were shared by a young woman who said: Art helped me find my voice. And she described kind of what her life had been before she became an artist. We know the economic impact of the arts. In my congressional district, there are 1,340 arts-related businesses that employ almost 7,000 people.…”