Posted on 01/28/2004 8:29:35 PM PST by yonif
WASHINGTON, Jan. 28 — President Bush will seek a big increase in the budget of the National Endowment for the Arts, the largest single source of support for the arts in the United States, administration officials said on Wednesday.
The proposal is part of a turnaround for the agency, which was once fighting for its life, attacked by some Republicans as a threat to the nation's moral standards.
Laura Bush plans to announce the request on Thursday, in remarks intended to show the administration's commitment to the arts, aides said.
Administration officials, including White House budget experts, said that Mr. Bush would propose an increase of $15 million to $20 million for the coming fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. That would be the largest rise in two decades and far more than the most recent increases, about $500,000 for 2003 and $5 million for this year.
The agency has a budget of $121 million this year, 31 percent lower than its peak of $176 million in 1992. After Republicans gained control of Congress in 1995, they cut the agency's budget to slightly less than $100 million, and the budget was essentially flat for five years.
In an e-mail message inviting arts advocates to a news briefing with Mrs. Bush, Dana Gioia, the poet who is chairman of the endowment, says, "You will be present for an important day in N.E.A. history."
Mr. Gioia (pronounced JOY-uh) has tried to move beyond the culture wars that swirled around the agency for years. He has nurtured support among influential members of Congress, including conservative Republicans like Representatives Charles H. Taylor and Sue Myrick of North Carolina. He has held workshops around the country to explain how local arts organizations can apply for assistance.
Public support for the arts was hotly debated in the 1990's. Conservatives complained that the agency was financing obscene or sacrilegious works by artists like Robert Mapplethorpe and Andres Serrano. Former Senator Jesse Helms, Republican of North Carolina, repeatedly tried to eliminate the agency.
Some new money sought by Mr. Bush would expand initiatives with broad bipartisan support, like performances of Shakespeare's plays and "Jazz Masters" concert tours.
Mrs. Bush also plans to introduce a new initiative, "American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Artistic Genius." This would combine art presentations — from painting and literature to music and dance — with education programs. The program would give large numbers of students around the country a chance to see exhibitions and performances.
New York receives a large share of the endowment's grants. But under federal law, the agency also gives priority to projects that cater to "underserved populations," including members of minority groups in urban neighborhoods with high poverty rates.
The president's proposal faces an uncertain future at a time of large budget deficits.
Melissa Schwartz, a spokeswoman for the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, an advocacy group, said, "We'll be fighting tooth and nail for the increase."
Some conservatives, like Representative Tom Tancredo, Republican of Colorado, vowed to oppose the increase. Even without support from the government, he said, "art would thrive in America."
Representative Louise M. Slaughter, a New York Democrat who is co-chairwoman of the Congressional Arts Caucus, said she was delighted to learn of Mr. Bush's proposal.
"There's nothing in the world that helps economic development more than arts programs," Ms. Slaughter said. "It was foolish for Congress to choke them and starve them. We should cherish the people who can tell us who we are, where we came from and where we hope to go."
Mr. Tancredo expressed dismay. "We are looking at record deficit and potential cuts in all kinds of programs," he said. "How can I tell constituents that I'll take money away from them to pay for somebody else's idea of good art? I have no more right to do that than to finance somebody else's ideas about religion."
The agency has long had support from some Republicans, like Representatives Christopher Shays of Connecticut and Jim Leach of Iowa.
"Government involvement is designed to take the arts from the grand citadel of the privileged and bring them to the public at large," Mr. Leach said. "This democratization of the arts ennobles the American experience."
It's back to the future.
Oh well I guess you like the Clinton and demos selling nuclear secrets to the Chicoms.
Thank you for being honest.
The Cult of Personality is so severely ingrained that if Bush nationalized all industries and declared that, henceforth, America would be a communist country, I believe Bushbots would find something in the decree to love.
Oh C'mon, it's the NYT's..... The "true Conservative's" choice for breaking news < /sarcasm > off
How about abolishing the NEA? How 'bout that?
Gee, I am sure glad we don't have a liberal in the whitehouse.
I'd rather not.
For most Freepers, that request would be complied with. That's because in most cases I could be assured of a thoughtful, reasoned response.
For you... no thanks.
Thank you for clearing that up.
I expect adult behavior from adults. Guess that's not CONSERVATIVE enough for you.
This place is going down the sewer.
472 posted on 01/29/2004 7:05:39 AM PST by ohioWfan (BUSH 2004 - Leadership, Integrity, Morality) [ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 387 | View Replies | Report Abuse ]
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DOH!
No, Bush is helping Kerry and the Dems by serving up steaming piles of crap like this.
And you are enabling the behavior.
OMG!
You owe me a keyboard, and a steaming cup of joe. ;)
Yeah, that's the ticket...
Have 8 years of destroying the military. Have 8 years of gutting the intelligence agencies.
Have 8 years of retreat in the war on terror while the terrorists salivate at our willingness to be slaughtered like sheep...
And,to top it all off... at the end of the 8 years... you still may not get your "rededication" to conservative principles by our elected Republicans.
But... how decent and noble of you to take that gamble on behalf of the country and the party. After all... it will only be for 8 years. What bad can happen in 8 years? Heck what bad can happen on any given morning (like 9/11) in two hours? Not much!
My vote is the only tool, short of a gun (which I will not use), I have left. I will not vote for someone who steals my money to give to drug induced sluts. Again a clear message was send to his father and yes we got the Clintons for 8 years. Someone in the Republican party needs to learn from that clear message that we are not sheep and will not blindly follow someone just because they have an (R) after their name. That is one thing which separates us from the demoncraps, we have values not blind loyalty.
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