[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 37 (Tuesday, February 25, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S1153]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                      TRIBUTE TO DR. PHOEBE STEIN

 Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I would like to take a few 
moments to thank and congratulate Dr. Phoebe Stein for her lifetime 
commitment to advancing the humanities. At the end of this week, Phoebe 
will leave her post as the executive director at Maryland Humanities, a 
position she has held for more than 11 years. But Maryland's loss is 
the Nation's gain. Effective May 1, Phoebe will succeed Esther 
Mackintosh as president of the Federation of State Humanities Councils. 
The federation is the national member association of the 56 State and 
jurisdictional humanities councils. The Federation's purpose is ``to 
provide leadership, advocacy, and information to help members advance 
programs that engage millions of citizens across diverse populations in 
community and civic life.'' I can't think of anyone better suited for 
the job.
  Phoebe, a Maryland native, arrived at Maryland Humanities in 2008 
after serving as the director of public affairs at the Illinois 
Humanities Council, now called Illinois Humanities. She received her 
B.A. in English from the University of Michigan and her M.A. and Ph.D. 
in English from Loyola University of Chicago.
  Phoebe has effectively advocated for the humanities at the local, 
State, and Federal level for more than 20 years. Even though Phoebe 
became executive director at Maryland Humanities at the beginning of 
the Great Recession, she managed to expand the council's partnerships, 
programs, staff, financial support and other resources, and, most 
importantly, its reach. She hosted a radio spot, ``Humanities 
Connection,'' while advancing several of the council's flagship 
programs, including Maryland History Day, Museum on Main Street, and 
One Maryland One Book. The organization now offers more than 1,000 free 
events annually in partnership with more than 500 organizations in more 
than 150 communities statewide.
  Phoebe has brought Maryland History Day winners to meet with their 
elected representatives at the Maryland State House and here at the 
U.S. Capitol. She helped to foster a responsive environment following 
the death of Freddie Gray in 2015 and launch a Humanities Fund for 
Baltimore. She introduced student authors to author Chimamanda Ngozi 
Adiche at One Maryland One Book events in 2017. Through it all, Phoebe 
has been a joyful and indefatigable advocate, coming up to the Hill or 
to Annapolis to lobby or traveling throughout Maryland to bring the 
humanities to the people. In 2016, ``The Daily Record'' rightfully 
recognized Phoebe as one of Maryland's Top 100 Women.
  The National Endowment for the Humanities, NEH, provides funding to 
State humanities councils through NEH's Federal/State Partnership 
Office. The councils also receive funding from private donations, 
foundations, corporations, and from the States themselves. This year, 
we will celebrate the 55th anniversary of the NEH's creation. On 
September 29, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the National 
Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act into law. The act called 
for the creation of the NEH and the National Endowment for the Arts, 
NEA, as separate, independent agencies. More than 200 people filled the 
Rose Garden for the bill signing ceremony, including Gregory Peck, 
Dumas Malone, Ansel Adams, Ralph Ellison, Walter Gropius, and Paul 
Mellon.
  President Trump's fiscal year 2021 budget request once again 
tendentiously proposes to terminate the NEH, the NEA, the Institute of 
Museum and Library Services, and the Corporation for Public 
Broadcasting. In previous years, Congress has ignored these proposals, 
and I am optimistic we will do so again this year. I would note that 
Federal funding for the NEH peaked in 1994 in nominal terms at $177.5 
million; in inflation-adjusted terms--2019 dollars--Federal funding 
peaked in 1979 at nearly three times its current level.
  On a per capita basis, Federal funding for the NEH amounts to less 
than the cost of a single postage stamp. That is a rather paltry 
investment since, as author and essayist Mark Slouka wrote in his book, 
``Essays from the Nick of Time: Reflections and Refutations,'' ``[T]he 
humanities are a superb delivery mechanism for what we might call 
democratic values.'' He went on to say:

       The case for the humanities is not hard to make, though it 
     can be difficult--to such an extent have we been 
     marginalized, so long have we acceded to that 
     marginalization--not to sound either defensive or naive. The 
     humanities, done right, are the crucible in which our 
     evolving notions of what it means to be fully human are put 
     to the test; they teach us, incrementally, endlessly, not 
     what to do, but how to be. Their method is confrontational, 
     their domain unlimited, their ``product'' not truth but the 
     reasoned search for truth, their ``success'' something very 
     much like Frost's momentary stay against confusion.

  Phoebe Stein understands how important the humanities are to our 
individual, collective, and civic well-being. While we Marylanders will 
miss her at Maryland Humanities, all Americans are fortunate that she 
will be heading the federation, where her passionate advocacy will 
extend beyond Baltimore, the Eastern Shore, and the Cumberland Narrows 
to redound to the benefit of people and communities across our 
Nation.

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