[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 95 (Tuesday, July 8, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H4841-H4842]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     PRESERVE FUNDING FOR THE ARTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Petri). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 21, 1997, the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. 
McGovern] is recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, some of my colleagues have been arguing 
that the Federal Government should bear no responsibility for funding 
the arts. They claim that the National Endowment for the Arts is a 
shameful bureaucracy, out of touch with the American people; that it is 
a bastion of elitism; that Americans would be better off without it.
  Mr. Speaker, those colleagues are wrong, and I rise today to set the 
record straight.
  I was in my hometown of Worcester, MA, for the Fourth of July 
festivities. Before the fireworks took to the sky, I sat with 30,000 of 
my constituents as we were collectively awed by the Central 
Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra performance. It was a breathtaking 
experience. The concert was free to the

[[Page H4842]]

public; the music, a gift to everyone who gathered at East Park. The 
Central Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra is a beneficiary of grants 
from the Worcester Cultural Commission and the Massachusetts Cultural 
Counsel which receives funding from the National Endowment for the 
Arts.
  The NEA is not the exclusive funding source for arts in America. The 
lion's share of their funding comes from private individuals and 
corporations, and eliminating the NEA will not eliminate the arts; but 
it will curb average Americans' abilities to access them, to learn and 
grow from them and to enrich their children with them.
  If the NEA is eliminated, the arts will become a private enterprise, 
the exclusive domain of the wealthy and well connected. The work of the 
American theater troops, musicians, painters, writers, and 
photographers belong to every American, not just those who can afford 
season tickets, private passes, and A-list invitations. As the arts 
preserve, reinvent and create our national heritage, they serve each of 
us. Their creations should be available for all of us to see, hear, 
feel and experience. The NEA helps make this happen.
  The growth of museums, dance and opera companies, symphony orchestras 
and presenting groups is the direct result of NEA resources. Without 
the NEA, States like Massachusetts will become a tale of two cities. 
Larger cities like Boston will always find the resources to preserve 
the cultural centers. It is medium-sized and small cities, it is rural 
communities like those in my district that will suffer without Federal 
arts funding.
  One glorious example of the NEA's handiwork is the Worcester Art 
Museum. Because of a $15,000 NEA grant, the Worcester Art Museum was 
able to open the landmark exhibition entitled Grant Wood: An American 
master revealed. Over 57,000 men, women, and children throughout the 
area marveled at this exhibition. Free tours were given to over 3,800 
students and a family day with hands-on art activities drew close to 
2,000 people. Worcester Art Museum is expecting tens of thousands more 
people from Massachusetts and throughout New England to attend 
exhibitions planned for this coming year, and each of them is being 
made possible through NEA funding.
  The NEA has done much to fund and recognize the educational value of 
the arts. Arts in the classroom have been proven to increase student 
attendance, bolster self-esteem, broaden vocabulary and boost overall 
academic progress. By teaching about the arts in our schools we not 
only enrich our students' cultural education, we actually help them 
learn. I have long been committed to reining in wasteful Government 
spending; but to target the NEA as the source of that waste 
demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of the Federal budget. 
Sadly, as this Congress seeks to eliminate the modest Federal funding 
for museums, symphony orchestras, and theater groups across this Nation 
in the name of deficit reduction, it has succeeded in pouring billions 
and billions of dollars more into B-2 bombers that even the Pentagon 
says it does not need and does not want. It is absurd.
  The former Governor of New York, Mario Cuomo, spoke eloquently about 
the current state of our society. He said that it is simply a tragedy 
that so many of our Nation's children will hear the sounds of gunfire 
before they hear the sounds of a symphony.
  It is not simply a matter of resources, Mr. Speaker, it is a matter 
of priorities. Each taxpayer contributes less than 70 cents per year to 
the NEA, and I think that is a small price to pay to protect our 
heritage and preserve our culture. If anything, the NEA actually helps 
balance the budget. The NEA's investment in the Nation's arts acts as a 
catalyst for over $3.4 billion in Federal tax revenue. It stimulates 
local economies and urban renewal. In my district, cities, and towns 
from Worcester to Fall River have witnessed the benefits of increased 
tourism and economic growth as a result of the NEA.
  What message will we be sending to the Nation if the National 
Endowment for the Arts is eliminated? To cut the NEA is to reduce our 
national commitment to cultural activity. It is to decrease national 
visibility for cultural education, and it may prompt the States and 
local governments to cut the funding for the arts as well.
  The arts bring people together, heal communities, and provide us with 
a common language. Supporting the arts is central both to our 
understanding of past civilizations and to constructing a shared vision 
for the future.
  In conclusion, if we care that historical monuments will continue to 
be treasured and experienced by all, if we care that traveling 
exhibitions will make it beyond our Nation's largest cities, if we care 
that our children will be able to open the doors to America's culture 
and history, if we believe that music, drama and visual works, these 
flowers of our national experience must be made available to all, then 
we must support the National Endowment for the Arts.

                          ____________________