madam chairman , i rise to urge support for the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from new york ( ms. slaughter ) xz4003780 and myself to increase the funding for the national endowments for the arts and humanities . 
the amendment would provide an additional $ 15 million for the endowments -- $ 10 million for the national endowment for the arts , and $ 5 million for the national endowment for the humanities . 
the increase would be offset by reductions in various accounts . 
my colleagues may recall that a similar amendment passed the house last year during consideration of the 2005 department of the interior bill by a vote of 241 to 185 . 
the amendment provided an additional $ 10 million for the nea and $ 3.5 million for the neh . 
once again the gentlewoman from new york ( ms. slaughter ) xz4003780 and i are asking for support for this amendment , and perhaps we can obtain a greater margin than last year . 
i have sensed over the last few years that the battle over this amendment has cooled and we can move on knowing that a healthy majority in the house agrees that these two important programs deserve our strong financial support . 
this debate presents a good opportunity to make sure our new colleagues understand the importance of this modest federal support and how it has such a tremendous impact on every one of our congressional districts . 
each of the nea and neh grants is modest in size , but it is vitally important to the communities they reach . 
the federal money serves as a catalyst to draw in private contributions . 
in fact , we now know that higher levels of federal money will leverage even greater private support . 
unfortunately , since 1996 , the endowments have been underfunded . 
the endowments are still being funded below their level of 10 years ago . 
in 1996 , congress reduced the nea by 39 percent and neh by 36 percent . 
our amendment does not restore those funding levels of a decade ago , but it does provide an opportunity for the members of the house to show their strong support for the endowments by approving this modest amendment . 
