David Obey: “there is no reason, other than an ideological one, to oppose this amendment. As has been already pointed out, the…”

“there is no reason, other than an ideological one, to oppose this amendment. As has been already pointed out, the Endowment for the Arts as recently as 1995 was funded at $170 million level. This amendment simply seeks to fund it at $115 million. For those people who live in big cities or for those Members of Congress who regularly frequent Washington, D.C., any time they want they can go to the Kennedy Center, they can go to the Folger Library, they can go to the Corcoran, they can go to many of the cultural institutions in this town. It is a lot different if your are a child in small town America. Very often the endowment is the only thing that will introduce children in smaller communities in this country to the fine arts and to many other experiences that come under the rubric of the arts and humanities. I think of one entertainer in my district, for instance, who goes into schools, who helps schoolchildren to write down their thoughts about life and then put those thoughts to music. Then he turns that into CDs for those local schools. The value in that kind of an effort is immeasurable. As far as I am concerned, the Endowment for the Arts is one of those tiny facilities of government that helps children from all over this country dig much more deeply into their own souls than they even know is possible. I think that to oppose this amendment for ideological grounds or on ideological grounds is shortsighted.”