Political Quotes

“I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to this amendment. When we reduce spending overall, we have to make decisions. We have to make priorities. One of the things that we have tried to protect to the extent possible, because it was such a small part of our overall bill, was the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities because I have seen what they do in communities all across Idaho and across this country. Through the NEA grants, Americans in communities that we represent have access to arts and art programs. I am not worried about the arts in Washington or in New York or in Los Angeles, but I am worried about the arts in Shelley, Idaho, a small town, but they have an arts council, and they do a great job. I continue to see the impact that funding has, and most of these grants go out, as the ranking member said, to small communities to help with their art councils and so forth. While I appreciate my colleague's effort to rein in spending, I cannot support this deep cut of the National Endowment for the Arts, so I oppose this amendment.”