The Artful Jurist

The economic stimulus package that President Obama signed into law will include $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts. If my math is correct—okay, if my calculator’s math is correct—that’s about .00006 percent of the total $800 billion the package is supposed to pump into the economy. In other words, by stimulus standards, it’s the proverbial drop in the bucket. But the arts almost didn’t get even that drop.

Initially, the money had been earmarked in the House version of the bill. But then the Senate excluded it from its own version. Additionally, Senator Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) got an amendment passed that nixed any stimulus money for museums, theaters, or arts centers, which the Senator put into the same class as golf courses and casinos.

But it turned out to be a lucky Friday the 13th for the NEA when Congress put the arts appropriation back into the final bill that was passed. In a plea from the House floor, Representative David R. Obey (D-Wisconsin) argued that the arts employ five million people in this country—of which 12-and-a-half percent are currently unemployed.