Author: Grace Duggan
Election Day 2008 proved to be a good day for arts-friendly Democratic candidate Peter Welch. With 81.4 percent of the vote, Welch easily won a second term as Vermont's lone Congressman in the House of Representatives.
Welch has a strong history of supporting the arts; he received an "A" on the Congressional Arts Report Card for the 110th Congress (2007-2009). This Report Card comes courtesy of the Arts Action Fund, a nonprofit membership organization (with an associated PAC) started in 2004 by parent organization Americans for the Arts. The Arts Action Fund works to encourage Americans to support and advocate for the arts and arts education. Every member of the House of Representatives is assigned two grades (a letter and a number) evaluating their voting record on various issues related to the arts and arts education. Vermont's state delegation was ranked number one out of all fifty states in 2004 and 2006, but was bumped down to second place behind Maine in this year's report.
Aside from individual grades, the Report Card provides more general information about arts-related legislation. For example, one section of the report indicates growing bipartisan support for the arts. Funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) was increased by $20 million dollars to $144.7 million. This budget increase stands out as only a small step in the right direction; taking inflation into account, this increase still leaves the NEA with less than half of the spending power it had in 1992.
Arts-friendly incumbent wins Vt. seat
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