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Bush Is Said to Seek More Money for Arts [$15 million to $20 million for NEA]
New York Times ^ | January 29, 2004 | ROBERT PEAR

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."


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: biggovernment; laurabush; nea; notconservatism; presidentbush; spending
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To: yonif
Why is Bush doing everything possible to make me stay home in November?

Why does Karl Rove think all this Dem-stuff will garner votes? They won't get enough new votes to counter the lost conservatives.

Enough is enough. They can't keep this up and think we'll still swallow anything because every single alternative is horribly worse. There is a breaking point.
221 posted on 01/28/2004 10:50:57 PM PST by Fledermaus (Democrats are just not capable of defending our nation's security. It's that simple!)
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To: MJY1288; Diddle E. Squat
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1067328/posts
222 posted on 01/28/2004 10:51:10 PM PST by Howlin
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To: yonif
I shouldn't have read this right before bed. Now I'm not gonna be able to sleep because I have finally realized that the last conservative cell in Bush's body has finally bit the dust.
223 posted on 01/28/2004 10:55:36 PM PST by aodell
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To: Dave Olson; Miss Marple; Howlin; Jim Robinson
When dealing with these posters, you must take into consideration what the word "Principle" means to them.

To be principled you must ignore the advances of Conservatism by this President because of the pandering he does to the left, despite the fact that this President is changing the direction of this country to the right in the process.

You also need to forget that none of us have ever paid for the deficits of any administration, we work and pay our taxes, and the last time I looked my taxes are much lower than the were on January 19th, 2001

We also need to forget that our Military is stronger than ever and the worlds Tyrants are no longer laughing at us, they're pissing their pants in fear that GW means business and they might be next. But we need to toss George W. Bush out on his ass and let John Kerry lick the boots of Kofi Annan and ask him what we can do to get the French and Germans to like us again.

So my answer to these mental midgets who say Bush is too much of a big spender for them is.... Go vote for whatever certain loser from the Constitution Party or the Libertarian Party that will promise to live by their every Conservative "Principle" while not having a snowballs chance in hell in getting elected.

I call the principles of someone who refuses to sit down in the electric chair until they fix it.

224 posted on 01/28/2004 10:57:40 PM PST by MJY1288 (WITHOUT DOUBLE STANDARDS, LIBERALS WOULDN'T HAVE ANY !)
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To: yonif
Look, we have another reason to vote for Michael Peroutka.
225 posted on 01/28/2004 10:59:06 PM PST by The_Eaglet (Conservative chat on IRC: http://searchirc.com/search.php?F=exact&T=chan&N=33&I=conservative)
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To: MJY1288
You could have saved yourself a lot of trouble is you had just said we had to suspend reality.
226 posted on 01/28/2004 11:01:11 PM PST by Howlin
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To: MJY1288

Vote Dubya!

Because its a GOOD thing he and Alex Baldwin are on the same page!


227 posted on 01/28/2004 11:01:49 PM PST by KantianBurke (2+2 does NOT equal 5)
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To: Howlin
Bush's Plan gets rejected yesterday and the Democrats release this one today :-)

Guess what party just got moved further to the left :-)

Some people doubted me when I said this was a political move by GWB when he proposed his vague proposal on Immigration :-)

228 posted on 01/28/2004 11:02:27 PM PST by MJY1288 (WITHOUT DOUBLE STANDARDS, LIBERALS WOULDN'T HAVE ANY !)
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To: KantianBurke
Lazy.
229 posted on 01/28/2004 11:03:06 PM PST by Texasforever
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To: yonif
AAARRRGGHH!!!!
230 posted on 01/28/2004 11:03:49 PM PST by Bullish
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To: Texasforever
Lazy? You know how much of a pain it is to have to html text a block of script of that size? :> :P
231 posted on 01/28/2004 11:04:26 PM PST by KantianBurke (2+2 does NOT equal 5)
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To: KantianBurke
Thanks, One more example of why you are a mental midget
232 posted on 01/28/2004 11:05:18 PM PST by MJY1288 (WITHOUT DOUBLE STANDARDS, LIBERALS WOULDN'T HAVE ANY !)
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To: KantianBurke
You know how much of a pain it is to have to html text a block of script of that size? :> :P

Cheap shots should cause pain.

233 posted on 01/28/2004 11:05:24 PM PST by Texasforever
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To: Texasforever
He got that picture from his "favorites" folder :-)
234 posted on 01/28/2004 11:07:38 PM PST by MJY1288 (WITHOUT DOUBLE STANDARDS, LIBERALS WOULDN'T HAVE ANY !)
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To: KantianBurke
Obviously you didn't read my post #90.
235 posted on 01/28/2004 11:07:59 PM PST by Diddle E. Squat (www.firethebcs.com, www.weneedaplayoff.com, www.firemackbrown.com)
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To: Texasforever
You wanna talk about pain? Try watching "Beetlejuice!" Or seeing my tax return particuarly after this "gift" is factored in! Ouch!
236 posted on 01/28/2004 11:08:55 PM PST by KantianBurke (2+2 does NOT equal 5)
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To: Diddle E. Squat
READ? That's too much to ask when there is bitching to do
237 posted on 01/28/2004 11:09:16 PM PST by MJY1288 (WITHOUT DOUBLE STANDARDS, LIBERALS WOULDN'T HAVE ANY !)
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To: MJY1288
I call the principles of someone who refuses to sit down in the electric chair until they fix it.

Uh-hunh, I like your analogy. "Just sit down in this busted electric chair," says GW to conservatives. "As long as I'm your warden, I won't turn on the current."

238 posted on 01/28/2004 11:12:07 PM PST by Map Kernow ("I hold that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing" ---Thomas Jefferson)
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To: MJY1288
Mental midget?! I resent that sir! Many of us mental midgets have become great things in this world like President of the US or a film star. :P

239 posted on 01/28/2004 11:12:51 PM PST by KantianBurke (2+2 does NOT equal 5)
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To: Diddle E. Squat
What we are dealing with is people who read the headlines and their knee starts jerking, they hit the reply button and remove any doubt that they can see beyond the first row, or have a grasp of history that reaches beyond this mornings breakfast. That is why they are where they are.... Hopeless fringers who are manipulated daily by the left, and will never be happy... (Perpetual Pouting Pitchforkers)
240 posted on 01/28/2004 11:14:41 PM PST by MJY1288 (WITHOUT DOUBLE STANDARDS, LIBERALS WOULDN'T HAVE ANY !)
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