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May 19, 2005
Dear Arts Advocate,
At 1:14 p.m. EDT on Thursday, May 19, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the Congressional Arts Caucus Amendment to increase funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) by $10 million and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) by $5 million. For the first time ever, the amendment passed by voice vote, which means there is not a detailed record of who voted for or against the amendment. Early in the floor debate, it became very clear that an overwhelming majority of Members supported this arts funding increase, in part because of the steady stream of constituent messages that Members recieved in the 48 hours before the vote. We suspect that arts opponents avoided a recorded vote in order to spare embarrassment. Thank
you for your incredible hard work! We would not have achieved this terrific
outcome without you. (Read our press release.)
The
Congressional Arts Caucus Amendment was sponsored by Reps. Louise Slaughter
(D-NY), Chris Shays (R-CT), Norm Dicks (D-WA), David Price (D-NC) and Jim
Leach (R-IA).
We are pleased to provide you with the text of statements submitted by several Members of Congress in
support of increased funding for the arts. Clicking on their name will take
you to a transcript of their floor statement.
The only voice of opposition to the amendment was Interior Appropriations
Subcommittee Chairman Charles Taylor (R-NC), though it is important to note
that Subcommittee Chairmen generally oppose all changes to their appropriations
bills.
During debate, those speaking in favor of the amendment noted the increase
in funding paled in comparison to the economic return generated by the
arts. Members offered examples from Americans for the Arts’ Creative Industries study,
noting the number of arts businesses and employees in their district.
Also
on May 19, two amendments that would drastically reduce NEA funding were defeated by overwhelming margins. The first amendment, offered by Rep. Joel Hefley (R-CO), would have reduced NEA funding by $15 million to further increase funding for the
Interior Department's Payments in Lieu of Taxes program. The amendment failed
by a vote of 109-311.
The
second amendment, offered by Rep. Bob Beauprez, would have cut NEA funding
by $30 million, shifting the funds to further increase the wildfire management
program. The amendment failed by a vote of 122-298.
This was a slightly tougher vote for several pro-arts Western and Midwestern
Members because of specific wildfire issues in their states, including Stephanie
Herseth (D-SD) who submitted a statement against shifting funds from the NEA immediately following her
vote.
What's next? The House is still wrapping up other amendments to the Interior
Appropriations bill, including two amendments to cut NEA funding. We are confident, however, that these amendments will fail. (We will be sending another Arts Action News update with the results tomorrow.) Once all votes are cast, the bill will move to the Senate for consideration, at which point our advocacy efforts will also turn to the Senate to approve a similar
funding increase for the two cultural agencies.
In the meantime, we have crafted
a customized message for
you to send to your Representative based on their vote on the Beauprez Amendment. If your Representative voted for this NEA funding cut, you can send them a message expressing your disappointment. If your Representative voted against the
amendment, you can thank them for their support of the arts. The
correct letter customized to your specific Representative will appear
when you enter
your zip code.
Again, we thank you for the unbelievable outpouring of help we received in support of the Arts Caucus amendment. It’s clear that your efforts made a difference, and will continue to make a difference as our efforts shift to the U.S. Senate.
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