Recently, Americans have become upset with economic recovery funds going to rather dubious ends, like, say bonuses to the bank execs who helped cause the whole problem. Not to worry, Congress (who also helped cause the problem) is on top of things. Earlier this week Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) proposed an amendment to the economic recovery bill that would bar the money from being spent on things like casinos. Which sounds reasonable enough until you learn that in the same class as casinos are: zoos, parks and art centers. Unfortunately, the amendment passed by a wide vote margin of 73-24, and surprisingly included support from many high profile Senators including Chuck Schumer of New York, Dianne Feinstein of California, Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, and several other Democratic and Republican Senators.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act also threatens to cut funding to the National Endowment for the Arts, upon which many arts organizations rely for funding.
To learn more go to Americans for the Arts.
UTAH’S ART MAGAZINE SINCE 2001, 15 Bytes is published by Artists of Utah, a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Categories: Public Issues
