Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 24, 1994 TAG: 9406290052
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short
The 222-204 vote followed a stormy debate in which conservatives accused the endowment of distributing taxpayers' dollars to some artists who are ``porno freaks.'' Democrats accused Republicans of favoring censorship.
Among Virginia's House delegation, all Republicans voted against the smaller reduction, and all Democrats voted for it except Owen Pickett of Virginia Beach and Norman Sisisky of Petersburg. Pickett and Sisisky voted against the cut.
The fight marked a renewal of the annual battle over the endowment, now headed by actress Jane Alexander. After the roll call, she said the 2 percent cut would hurt, but not as much as a larger reduction.
Opponents tried unsuccessfully to eliminate its entire $171 million budget, and then half of its funds. They next proposed shrinking it by 5 percent.
Sponsor Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., cited an NEA-financed performance in Minneapolis in March by Ron Athey, an HIV-infected artist who cut himself and an assistant, and then dangled bloodied towels over the audience.
NEA supporters countered that only a small percentage of the works the agency finances prove objectionable to some people, and that Congress had no right to censor controversial artists.
The final reduction was approved after a series of votes on various proposed trims.
by CNB