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."
Just look at your own profile page...
It explains everything.
He doesn't care what the truth is because he gets too many pats on the back from his cronies if he tells lies, so he'll keep it up.
btw, you're ignorant too. You have NO idea what I think about this subject, do you now??
Is this the cyber equivalent of stamping your feet and pulling your own hair? LOL
Long time no see OWK, glad to see your small self back. :^}
I believe God has appointed George W. Bush to lead this nation at this hour.
I do not worship him. I respect him.
I do not agree with him on a number of issues. I think CFR was an awful decision and I hate that he signed it.
I do NOT agree on the immigration policy. And as I said before IF you had bothered to read what I said, I do NOT agree with giving more money to the NEA.
NONE of that changes my respect for him, nor my sense that God is using him to lead us. I base that on Scripture, and on the Holy Spirit's promptings to pray for him.
You are making assumptions based on your own perception that leads you to a faulty conclusion.
And you are then taking that faulty conclusion, adding your own sarcastic mocking, and it adds up to a great untruth......i.e. LIE.
Stick to a discussion of the issues, and lay off the personal attacks on my character. That's what this forum is supposed to be about.
Yeah.. OK.
You keep telling yourself that.
(but your profile page says otherwise... as do your emotional outbursts)
And I'm with you about not letting a Rat Prez even close to the WH. I may (strongly) disagree with GWB on a variety of domestic issues, but as long as the politics of the vast majority of the electorate are squarely in the center, that's the type of President we'll get. The key is to move that center to what is now considered the 'right'. (The 'center' in the early 60's, for instance, was FAR to the right of where it is now). And the best way to accomplish that politically is at the grass-roots level.
I don't consider Dubya's foreign policy to be reflective of his "compassionate conservatism". I did consider his foreign policy regarding Israel, but couldn't justify comparing his domestic policies with his overall approach to foreign policy. To me they seem to be out of phase.
Dubya's domestic policies are the foreign policy equivalent of appeasement IMO.
LOL, this gets better by the minute.
Try not to hurt yourself or anyone else. Your veins are popping out. LOL
Not that you're so emotionally devoted to your cult of worship that you'd hurt anyone or anything...
If we want the majority of the electorate to shift back to the right... we have to educate them as to why that is a good thing for them and for the country.
Until those who vote come to see the ruin that can come from "voting themselves money from the public treasury", they will continue to vote for politicians who will keep the entitlement train running.
This thread is over 900 post of which 800 are of you two flaming each other.
Did you see the ones of my son, too? HE'S my obsession right now. Wanting him to get home safely because he's being mortared regularly. Praying for him to be a positive influence on his fellow soldiers in Iraq because of his strong faith in Christ. Praying for his safety.
THAT'S why I still support his Commander in Chief, even when I disagree with some of the things he does.......like THIS.
People on this thread have mocked others who brought up the importance of seeing the WHOLE, and not just the parts of this presidency. But to me, his restoration of and respect for the military is HUGE. His strength abroad in the War on Terror is vital. His strength in the culture wars against the moral decline of this country are vital.
I really don't care that you don't respect me (who ARE you, anyway?), and that you make false assumptions because I HAVE the respect of everyone who matters........including that son who is risking his life to keep YOU free.
btw, my 'emotions' were due to my being falsely accused and mocked. You like that when it happens to you, do you??
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