Rohrabacher’s NEA Bid Fails in House Vote

In a surprisingly strong showing by critics of illegal immigration, the House on Thursday barely defeated a bid by an Orange County congressman to bar the National Endowment for the Arts from dispensing money to illegal immigrants.

The parliamentary maneuver by Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) and Randy (Duke) Cunningham (R-San Diego) was prompted by an incident near Carlsbad last August, in which three San Diego performance artists handed out $10 bills to day laborers.

The proposed ban lost by four votes, 210-214. But that did not stop Rohrabacher, who has become a controversial critic of government support for illegal immigrants, from claiming victory.

“I think this is going to be a defining issue, politically,” Rohrabacher said, adding that Republicans have plans to offer similar amendments to other legislation that authorizes government spending programs.

The Carlsbad event, which was funded indirectly by the NEA, was roundly criticized by public officials. The artists told reporters that their performance was an effort to celebrate the economic contributions of illegal immigrants to the regional economy.

“I can’t think of anything more obscene than handing out limited taxpayers’ dollars to a group of illegal aliens,” Rohrabacher said, alluding to past controversies over NEA support for art that some critics termed pornographic. However, Rohrabacher added, “I’m sure the NEA could come up with something.”

But supporters of the federal arts agency said NEA guidelines already prohibit grants to those who are not U.S. citizens. Some suggested that Rohrabacher and Cunningham are seeking to exploit a sensitive political issue that has resonated with voters in California and other border states.

“It seems to us that (the Rohrabacher-Cunningham motion) would be impossible to administer and impossible to monitor,” said Rick Jerue, a senior aide to Rep. Pat Williams (D-Mont.), who has been one of the NEA’s strongest congressional champions.

By barring the NEA from dispensing any funds that could indirectly benefit illegal immigrants, “you’d be putting local theater groups in the position of being agents for the INS,” Jerue said, referring to the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Noting that the issue of illegal immigration was a central topic in a separate congressional debate over the extension of unemployment insurance benefits, Jerue added: “There are people who want to benefit from that issue and are using it for that purpose.”

At the Carlsbad event, three performance artists signed $10 bills and handed them out to immigrant workers who gathered at a day-laborer site. The idea behind the performance, the artists said, was that the marked bills would circulate throughout the community and show how migrants contribute to the economy.

After an investigation of the event, the NEA ruled last month that the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, which dispensed the $5,000 grant to the San Diego artists, must replace the federal funds with money from other sources.

The attempt to ban NEA grants to illegal immigrants was only one of several attacks on the federal arts agency on the House floor on Thursday. Eventually, the House voted 304-119 to approve legislation that extends the life of the arts agency for two more years.

Before the final victory, supporters of the embattled organization turned back an effort by Rep. Philip M. Crane (R-Ill.) to cut all funding for the agency, and a subsequent attempt by Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) to slash its budget by 40%. The Dornan amendment lost 151-281.