[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 123 (Thursday, July 27, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10795-S10796]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              FEDERAL FUNDING FOR THE ARTS AND HUMANITIES

  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, Senator Bob Bennett and I introduced a 
bill yesterday that redefines the Federal role in providing assistance 
to the arts.
  We believe there is an excellent case to be made for continued 
Federal arts and humanitiies funding. But past experience has shown 
clearly that the role of the Federal Government in artisitic endeavor 
must be focused on more citizen involvement--and more common sense.
  At the heart of this bill we have introduced is a belief that culture 
counts. Mr. President, the students on Tiananmen Square in 1989 who 
created a statue of freedom in the likeness of out Statue of Liberty 
had no difficulty identifying the unifying themes of American culture.
  We Americans, on the other hand, are immersed in--and sometimes 
overexposed to--its more contentious aspects. As a result, sometimes we 
see it less clearly. We debate whether we have a common culture and if 
so, what it is and who it represents.
  Federal support for the arts is a case in point. Most federally 
supported arts projects promote mainstream excellence and the widest 
possible public enjoyment.
  But by allocating tax dollars to a few outrageous and patently 
offensive projects that claimed to have cornered the market on American 
culture, the National Endowment for the Arts has managed to alienate 
legions of Americans--voters and policymakers alike. Its excesses have 
led many to conclude that Federal support for the arts should be 
terminated. That, I believe, would be an unfortunate policy, one that 
would dim the light of American culture to an even greater degree.
  Committed as I am to a balanced Federal budget, I think that Federal 
funding for the arts and humanities should be continued as a national 
policy to preserve an American heritage--if we can return to our 
original purpose in creating these programs, and if we can ensure that 
no more Federal funds end up in the hands of those who are willfully 
offensive.
  Our bill redirects Federal support for the arts, humanities and 
museum activities away from the self-indulgently obscene and the safely 
mediocre and toward the creation and support of community-based 
programs. By this I mean locally and regionally based theater, dance, 
opera and museums.
  To accomplish this we propose combining the National Endowment for 
the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute 
of Museum Services into one agency. This new joint endowment would 
devolve as much of its decisionmaking authority as possible to the 
States--and to the people whose tax dollars support it.
  The new endowment would continue to make direct grants to support 
nationally significant endeavors in the arts and humanities. However, 
the bulk of public resources would go directly to the States to promote 
greater access to the arts in our schools and communities, to continue 
worthy public projects in the humanities and to strengthen local 
museums.
  The consolidation we propose would streamline the existing endowment 
apparatus. This new endowment would be headed up by three deputy 
directors--one each for the arts, for the humanities and for museum 
services. The current 52-member advisory board would be replaced by a 
national council comprised of 18 members selected for their knowledge 
and achievements. Six would be chosen by the Senate, six by the House, 
and six by the President.
  One of the primary objectives of this bill is to reduce the size of 
the existing endowment bureaucracy in Washington, and to return 
resources and decisionmaking responsibilities of cities, regional 
groups and currently underserved areas.
  Our bill provides that no more than 9 percent of appropriated funds 
go to administrative functions, and it defines two basic grant 
categories: 40 percent earmarked for grants of national significance 
and 60 percent allocated for grants to the States. A portion of the 
States' grants would be dedicated to strengthening primary and 
secondary education in the arts.
  It is very important that we go into our schools, and have an 
appreciation shown for our young people in the arts and our American 
culture. Humanities and museum activities would be covered by our bill. 
We put special emphasis on communities which for geographic or economic 
reasons cannot otherwise sustain arts, and arts education programs.
  Let me make this very clear: Our bill prohibits any money 
appropriated under this act from being used to fund projects which 
violate standards of common decency. Nor may any of these resources be 
used, directly or indirectly, for lobbying. Arts funding goes to 
institutions and organizations not individual artists.
  In our bill, we focus on accountability, on ensuring that allocations 
are cost effective--and that they are made in a way that emphasizes 
merit and excellence.
  The thrust of this bill is to conserve and showcase our State and 
national treasures, those great cultural institutions that are our 
legacy to our children--our world class museums, libraries, dance 
companies, orchestras, theater companies, and university presses. With 
the financial support of private donors, and of the States and the 
Federal Government, these intellectual and cultural power centers will 
have the potential to spin off a host of other creative activities that 
will enrich the lives of all of our people.
  Our country will benefit--culturally, spiritually, and economically--
from appropriately delineated Federal support for the arts. Americans 
rightly demand an end to obscenity and outrage, but not withdrawal of 
all government support for the cream of our culture.
  There are those who argue that all cultures--and all levels of 
culture--are equal, and that there is no real American culture at all, 
but rather only an amalgam of diverse cultures.
  But this deliberate balkanization of American culture ignores our 
singular heritage which has drawn from many sources to create a body of 
American arts and letters what is uniquely our own. E pluribus unum--
out of many, one. It is a living tradition worth sustaining.
  Mr. President, I believe that the bill we have presented today 
contains a formula for arts funding--and the encouragement of our 
native culture--that can regain the confidence and support of the 
American people.
  I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record an editorial 
from the Abilene Reporter-News that talks about the importance of 
keeping 

[[Page S 10796]]
arts funding for our smaller communities like Abilene, TX. It is very 
important that we be able to have an opera in Abilene, as we have had 
in the last 2 weeks, an artwalk that has been a great boon to the 
cultural prospects of a great city like Abilene.
  This happens all over America, Mr. President, and I do not want that 
cultural enlightenment that we have put into our smaller cities to die, 
and that is why Senator Bennett and I are trying to make a significant 
contribution to keeping what is good about the arts funding and our 
American culture while not allowing the obscenities that have turned 
our taxpayers off of these other good projects.
  I thank the Chair, and I yield the floor.
  There being no objection, the editorial was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

            [From the Abilene Reporter-News, July 27, 1995]

               Hutchison Weighs in on Behalf of the Arts

       House Republicans have been jumping on the philistine 
     bandwagon, but Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison thinks there's a 
     better route to follow than the one that sends funding for 
     the arts careening over the cliff.
       She's right, and she has a sound plan for how to accomplish 
     it.
       The House has voted to cut the National Endowment for the 
     Arts by 40 percent in fiscal 1996. House GOP leaders have 
     agreed to fund the NEA only for the next two years and 
     promise to try to terminate the agency after that.
       Republicans in the Senate, however, have shown more 
     awareness of the value of the arts, both economically and 
     socially, to local communities throughout the country. A bill 
     by Republican senators Nancy Kassebaum of Kansas and Jim 
     Jeffords of Vermont that would cut the NEA by a more modest 
     25 percent over five years was passed last week by the Senate 
     Labor and Human Resources Committee.
       Hutchison's bill is an improvement over that one.
       She would consolidate the NEA with the National Endowment 
     for the Humanities and the federal Institute of Museum 
     Services. During so would eliminate bureaucratic duplication 
     of agencies so similar in scope that they often operate in 
     conjunction anyway and would allow their funding under a new 
     umbrella entity to remain at current levels for the next five 
     years.
       Furthermore, the key element of Hutchison's measure would 
     direct 60
      percent of all NEA and NEH funding to states in the form of 
     block grants. This distribution would put the arts closer 
     to the people of middle America who stand to benefit the 
     most from it and drastically reduce the likelihood that 
     nationally funded projects would turn out to be 
     objectionable to most average taxpayers.
       Hutchison's block grant idea would be especially good for 
     Texas, which now ranks at the bottom in state spending for 
     the arts. According to the National Assembly of State Arts 
     Agencies, Texas spends a paltry 18.5 cents per person a year 
     on the arts, whereas the national average is 99.14 cents. 
     Hutchison's bill would give the arts in Texas a huge boost by 
     requiring a certain amount of federal money to be spent here.
       As the Texas senator said in announcing her proposal, arts 
     are the thread of civilization and the fabric of society. 
     Everyone who turned out for this month's Artwalk downtown or 
     attended the Abilene Opera Association's magnificent 
     production of ``La Traviata'' knows the arts bring something 
     beyond mere entertainment to a community that cannot be 
     achieved in any other way. If we don't support the arts, 
     we're letting go of civilization's thread and tossing 
     society's fabric in the trash.
       Hutchison deserves a lot of credit and enthusiastic support 
     for bucking the popular but misguided trend in her party to 
     gut the arts and for instead committing herself to the 
     programs and the values that her constituents will gain the 
     most from.

  Mr. LOTT addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Mississippi.

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