Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this amendment proposing a modest increase in America's arts budget. I represent a district in California that lost thousands and thousands of jobs in the defense industry with the defense contractor downsizings of the last couple of decades, but we were fortunate. We gained these jobs back and many more in the high-tech and entertainment industries.
In those industries, artistic skill and the creative thinking skills that are developed through arts education are essential, and support for the arts and support for arts education is as much a part of the economic infrastructure of States like California and many communities around the country as any other industry and, indeed, more than many other industries. We thought nothing of developing the infrastructure of other industries through focused educational efforts. We should do no less in this critical high-tech industry throughout the country.
Objection is made that if this is so important to the entertainment industry or the high-tech community, why do they not fund it? The answer is, they do. They do. In thousands of communities around America, the high-tech community and the entertainment industry do fund local theaters and symphonies and ballet companies, et cetera, but they cannot do it alone. They cannot do it alone.
Mr. Chairman, this modest increase in America's arts budget will allow not only the development of this industry and this economic infrastructure, but also support the cultural well-being of all of our communities by helping struggling theaters to survive and struggling ballet companies and museums and artists.
NEA grants have gone to things as varied as, for example, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial here in Washington. So it is not simply for our own economic well-being that we should strengthen our arts infrastructure in this country, but our cultural well-being and richness as well. It is the reason many of us live in the communities we live in. It is deserving of our support, and it is good for the heart and soul of America. I urge the continued support of my colleagues.