Following is an article from the Washington Post Friday morning.  This is
grim news for the arts community around the country.  It just shows again
that we can't be complacent.  Everyone who cares about the National Endowment
for the Arts should be in contact with his/her Senator when it is considered
there, and you should contact your congressperson now and let them know how
you feel about their vote on the N.E.A.

Anne Farrell
MCA San Diego
_________________________________________

House Paves Way for Dismantling Arts Agency

217-216 Vote Quashes Move to Restore Funds
By Jacqueline Trescott
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 11, 1997; Page B01
The Washington Post
—Republican leaders just barely managed to keep their troops in line
yesterday as the House voted basically to dismantle the National
Endowment for the Arts and replace it with block grants to the states.

In a rare moment of overt arm-twisting in the debate over the Interior
appropriations bill, the leadership persuaded Rep. John McHugh (R-N.Y.)
to change his vote in the final seconds of consideration of a procedural
rule that would forbid any amendments to restore the agency's funds. The
resulting 217-to-216 vote shut the door on any discussion of salvaging
the NEA's appropriation. Instead, it forced consideration of a new plan,
put forward by Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.), that emphasizes block
grants and eliminates almost any Washington bureaucracy in arts funding.

No matter what the outcome of the House vote on the appropriations bill,
the NEA could be saved by the Senate, which is still considering its
appropriations package and has been more sympathetic toward the agency.
After the Senate finishes its rounds of voting, the House and Senate
bills will then be reconciled in a conference committee.

When the vote changed to give the GOP a single vote more than the
bipartisan opposition, the Republicans erupted with hoots of approval.
In an interview after the dramatic moment, McHugh said he had been
worried about the amendment's lack of specificity, adding that he had
been assured by House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) that the report
accompanying the Interior appropriations bill would contain detailed
language on the formulas for the block grants.

"I needed some definition of a formula," said McHugh, who hails from
Upstate New York. He said he "always felt the government has a role in
arts funding" but supported the block grant approach. "I'm looking for a
way to do it more effectively," he said.

The narrow victory provided some sweet relief for the House leadership,
which has suffered a series of setbacks lately, and had worked
vigorously for the two days leading up to yesterday's debate to corral
its forces. Eliminating the NEA has been a primary goal of the
conservative wing of the party since it assumed power. Two years ago,
House Majority Leader Richard Armey (R-Tex.) made an agreement with a
group of junior representatives that the endowment would be funded
through fiscal 1997 and then eliminated. The Republicans have repeatedly
noted that the NEA has not been reauthorized since 1993. Yesterday,
several Democrats pointed out that 13 other agencies in the bill are not
authorized.

"The NEA has always been larger than life," Armey said yesterday. He
added that the agency's influence was inflated by "the arts elite in
America," who want to control the funding.

The vote was close because 15 Republicans sided with the pro-NEA faction
and five Democrats sided with the Republican leadership.

The Interior appropriations bill now contains an amendment allocating
$80 million for arts funding, rather than for the NEA. The money would
be distributed in block grants to local school boards to enhance arts
education, as well as to state arts commissions. There was no final
action on the amendment last night.

Officials at the White House have said President Clinton would veto the
entire Interior appropriations package if the NEA funding were not
restored at least to its fiscal 1997 level of $99.5 million. The bill
currently contains $10 million for the agency, an amount that would be
eliminated if the new block grant proposal is passed.

NEA Chairman Jane Alexander was grim but still held out hope. "The
endowment deserved the opportunity today to receive a vote on its merits
-- and did not get one due to party politics," she said in a statement.
"We now look to the Senate for fair debate and a vote on the future of
the agency."