Alexander Pushes Congress for More NEA Funds

Only months after fending off a Republican-led effort to phase out the National Endowment for the Arts, Chairwoman Jane Alexander on Wednesday pressed Congress for a significant increase in funding and expressed confidence the arts agency will not be abolished.

Although the embattled endowment continues to operate without a permanent budget for 1996, Alexander told members of the House Appropriations Interior subcommittee that the Clinton administration is requesting a $136-million budget for the 1997 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. That represents a 36% increase over the $99 million contained in this year’s appropriation, which was vetoed by President Clinton.

The 1997 budget proposal reflects the changing political climate on Capitol Hill, where last year’s Republican drive to eliminate some agencies and shrink others has been blunted by an increasingly confident White House and Democratic minority.

Asked by subcommittee members to identify a budget total that would constitute adequate funding for her agency, Alexander replied: “It may shock you, but we need $350 million.”

Although several panel members praised the agency, the NEA has come under harsh criticism in recent years for underwriting several controversial art exhibits. Last fall, the agency laid off 89 employees in response to congressional budget cuts.

The NEA budget has become mired in the same fiscal standoff that has caused several Cabinet departments to operate under temporary spending authority. Earlier this year, a House panel approved legislation that would have phased out the agency over a period of several years. The final funding bill that Congress sent to Clinton contained no phase-out, but some GOP lawmakers still advocate elimination of the agency.

Alexander said the NEA’s political problems are attributable to a relatively minuscule share of its past grants. Of more than 100,000 grants issued to nonprofit art groups since the NEA’s inception in 1965, “fewer than 40 have caused people some problems,” she said.

As an alternative to a budget increase, Rep. George Nethercutt (R-Wash.) suggested that the NEA require grant recipients to pay royalties back to the agency. Alexander said it was an option worth considering, but warned that it could be difficult to enforce.

Although the $136 million being sought for 1997 falls considerably below last year’s administration request for $172 million, it signals increasing confidence on the part of the agency and the White House that the NEA will survive efforts by Republican opponents to eliminate it.

While conceding that NEA personnel still experience anxiety about the agency’s future, Alexander discounted the possibility that it faces possible extinction.

“I feel that most of us, including myself, think the agency will continue,” she said. “We have the support of the administration and the support of the United States Senate. Next year, the year in which the House is committed to phasing out the agency, we will ask for funding again. “