The New York Times: Eleven House Republicans Sign Letter Supporting Arts Endowment
President Trump’s proposal to eliminate the National Endowment for the Ars has caused great anxiety for arts advocates, especially given that Republicans control both houses of Congress and many conservatives have long loathed the agency. But almost immediately after the president submitted his budget proposal in mid-March, a handful of Republicans put themselves forward as favoring the preservation of the endowment. And the list of vocal Republican allies has slowly grown in recent weeks.
Eleven House Republicans are now among more than 150 members of Congress who have signed a letter calling for a slight increase in federal funds to the endowment — a far cry from its elimination, which Mr. Trump is the first president to propose.
The signatories, who include one Republican who previously voted to defund public broadcasting, sent the letter to Representative Ken Calvert, Republican of California, and Representative Betty McCollum, Democrat of Minnesota. Mr. Calvert is the chairman of the House subcommittee tasked with appropriating funds to cultural endowments, while Ms. McCollum is the top ranking Democrat on it. The annual budget for the arts endowment is currently at about $148 million. The letter calls for funding to be increased to $155 million.