As we mentioned last week, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) offered a successful amendment to the stimulus bill preventing any of its dollars from going to zero-gravity chairs, saunas, and rotating pastel lights.
The comic value of Coburn’s crusade aside, his amendment also barred any money for parks, museums, theaters or any other arts organization that is struggling to survive the current economic downturn. And it looks like Democrats have kept that limitation after final conference talks on the bill.
As New York magazine reports, that’s distressing news for cultural groups that call the Big Apple home — and they’re laying blame at the feet of Chuck Schumer (NY), the No. 3 Democrat in the Senate. Alliance for the Arts Randall Bourscheidt tells the magazine that Coburn’s blanket limitation was
very prejudicial and, I think, intended to appeal to a constituency of Senator Coburn’s which finds the arts an easy target for things they don’t like. The surprising thing is that Senator Schumer voted for it.
