Rep. John Kline (R-MN), the top Republican on the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee, is calling for a congressional oversight hearing into allegations that officials with the National Endowment for the Arts, the Corporation for National and Community Service, and the White House inappropriately used federal resources to promote a political and legislative agenda. Kline made his request in a letter delivered yesterday to the committee’s Chairman, Rep. George Miller (D-CA).
"The stated role of the NEA is to increase access to the arts and arts education, not to promote any legislative agenda," Kline wrote. “This is also an inappropriate use of the NEA’s authority as a grant maker, and could be interpreted by some grant recipients as coercion to promote a political agenda."
Kline’s call for a hearing comes in response to revelations that NEA, CNCS, and White House officials convened a conference call on August 10th during which select artists were allegedly encouraged to create art that would support the president’s agenda. News outlets reported yesterday that the White House is taking steps to prevent such a call from happening again, acknowledging the troubling appearance of this use of taxpayer dollars.
A copy of Kline’s letter can be found here.
