Nearly all of the criticism of the stimulus legislation pending before Congress is directed at a small number of programs that make up a tiny percentage of the total spending in the package. One of the favorite targets of these critics is $50 million in funding for the National Endowment for the Arts.
Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) claims that these funds won't create jobs and Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) says, "We have real people out of work now and putting $50 million in the NEA and pretending that's going to save jobs as opposed to putting $50 million in a road project is disingenuous."
Despite Kingston's philistine views, people who work in the arts are real people who make a significant contribution to the national economy. In bad economic times, artists are among the most vulnerable people in the workforce.
You can find more of Scott Lilly's analysis in his recent article "Arts Bashing."
Scott Lilly is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress.