NCC Washington Update, Vol. 1, #10
March 2, 1995
by Page Putnam Miller
Director of the National Coordinating Committee for the
Promotion of History <pagem@CapAccess.org>
[H-Net subscribers are invited to redistribute this report.]
Appropriations Hearing on NEA and NEH --
On March 1 the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on
Interior and Related Agencies held a hearing to consider the
budgets for the NEA and NEH. The overall tone of the hearing was
fairly supportive with the questions aimed at improving and
trimming the endowments but not abolishing them. The three
points in the hearing in which Senators voiced critical concerns
came over the issues of insuring local support and accountability
to guard against inappropriate grants, criticism of the National
History Standards which were funded by NEH, and disdain over the
perception of NEH's leanings toward political correctness.
Senator Slade Gorton (R-WA), the Chair of the Subcommittee,
began by noting that the endowments face three hurdles:
1) The budget resolution on which the Senate will be
voting in May and which will set the overall ceilings
for each appropriation subcommittee (Gorton noted that
the budget resolution may include assumptions about the
endowments but that language would not be binding);
2) Reauthorization legislation which, he said, would
influenced the deliberations of the appropriations
subcommittee; and
3) The subcommittee's recommendation for FY'96 funding.
In his opening remarks, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said
that in the debate over the future of the endowments reason will
prevail over hysteria and noted that if every agency that made a
mistake were eliminated, there would be no Pentagon. The
tendency he said was to make the endowments a political symbol
and to ignore all the good they do. Jane Alexander, the Chair
of NEA, stressed in her presentation that there is no duplication
for the federal role in the support of the arts -- no
substitution for national recognition of excellence in the arts,
no substitution for a national peer review, and no substitution
for such national programs as tours for children's theater.
Senators asked questions about how to set priorities, about
challenge grants, and about the possibility of funding the
endowments through a system of privatization. Gorton especially
asked that if substantial cuts are required would there be across
the board cuts or some programs eliminated. Alexander said that
if there were substantial cuts some programs would have to be
eliminated; however, she defended challenge grants. She also
noted that there had been estimates of from $2 billion to $8
billion that would be required to establish private endowments to
ensure the current funding levels. Leahy noted that we may be
good fund raisers but not that good. Asked about block grants,
Alexander said that the current balance between block funds to
states and that for the national program is a good balance.
Senator Robert Bennett (R-UT) made the point that the
endowments are not elitist and that they have played a key role
in bringing the arts to rural areas. He said that he was
convinced that NEA does a wonderful work for when NEA gives its
"imprimatur of excellence" then foundations and private citizens
can feel that they can contribute with confidence knowing it is
an exceptional program. But he said that it would be naive not
to assume some reduction. He and other Senators urged that with
reductions that the number of grants remain high in order to make
use of the "imprimatur of excellence" that allows limited federal
funds to leverage private support.
Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) praised NEA for bringing the
best art to the most people. Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) recalled
the founding of NEH and of the role it has played in bringing art
to rural areas. He stressed the endowments requirement of
matching funds, of demonstrated local support in every grant, and
of measures to ensure accountability and careful review.
Senator Dale Bumpers (D-AR) expressed strong support for the
endowments and asked Alexander if there was a problem with
authorization. She replied that Senator Nancy Kassebaum's
committee is currently working on a bill.
The endowments are in better shape, Bumpers said, than the
press would have you believe.
The cowboy poetry festival, now in its eleventh year and
attended by 8,000 people was the focus of Senator Harry Reid's
(D-NV) remarks. Alexander pointed out that the founder of that
festival went to 150 private organizations and was turned down
before he went to NEA for funding. Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM)
congratulated Alexander on the way she had handles the pressures
of the position and said that the arts are one of the treasured
resources of New Mexico. "I understand the importance of the
arts," Domenici said, and will "support the continuation of the
agency but not at its current level."
When it came time for Sheldon Hackney, the Chair of NEH, to
make his presentation only two Senators were present -- Gorton
and Bennett. Hackney described many of the endowments programs
from the documentary editions of Washington's papers to the
teachers institutes. He also addressed the fact that NEH is not
an elite institution and noted that it would be difficult for the
private sector to pick up the slack if NEH were abolished.
Hackney faced sharp criticism from Gorton about the funding of
the National History Standards. Although Hackney noted that work
was underway to take into account criticisms of the standards,
Gorton said they were, in his opinion, "not recoverable." Gorton
then asked if the Center that had produced the standards had any
pending applications. Hackney responded that one would be
determined in May. "Be very careful with that application,"
Gorton said.
Bennett then spoke at length about his concern that
Hackney's "national conversations" stressed the kind of diversity
or strong tribal differences that would undermine the glue that
holds our society together, which is, he said, the ideals on
which this country was founded. While it is important to fund an
agency that supports the humanities, Bennett gave many
illustrations of how he believes political correctness is
trashing America. He concluded that political correctness poses
a dangerous threat to the continued survival of American.
Hackney responded that he too was concerned about the future of
our country but that the premise of the conversations is to bring
people together.
Members of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on
Interior and Related Agencies are: Chair, Slade Gorton
(R-WA); Ted Stevens (R-AK); Thad Cochran (R-MS); Pete
Domenici (R- NM); Mark Hatfield (R-OR); Conrad Burns
(R-MT); Robert Bennett (R-UT); Connie Mack (R- FL);
Robert Byrd (D-WV); Bennett Johnston (D-LA); Patrick
Leahy (D-VT); Dale Bumpers (D- AR); Ernest Hollings
(D-SC); Harry Reid (D-NV); Patty Murray (D-WA).