Funding for National Endowment for the Arts

Members of the Senate debated an amendment to the Interior Authorization bill introduced by Senator Jesse Helms, R - North Carolina, that would place restrictions on the funding decisions made by the National Endowment for the Arts. The amendment would prohibit the National Endowment for the Arts from funding artwork which is obscene under the definition in the bill. The amendment had been passed earlier in the year by the Senate, but was defeated in a House conference report. Sen. Helms addressed the Senate to criticize the NEA’s policies of using taxpayers' money to promote “obscenity and deviant conduct.” Opposition to the amendment focused on the censorship many legislators found inherent in the legislation. Senator Tim Wirth, D - New Mexico held up paintings by Titian and Toulouse-Lautrec which he claimed would be judged obscene under the amendment. close