Increase Funding For The NEA? Yeah, Right!

So arts supporters are cheering George Bush’s proposal to raise the budget of the National Endowment for the Arts. Big deal, writes Dominic Papatola. “Even if Bush’s proposed boost isn’t the cynical political maneuver it appears to be — who wants to bet that congressional Republicans don’t have a backroom deal to nix the increase? — the NEA budget will still be $37 million less than its high-water mark. And that’s in nonadjusted dollars.”