This was a vote on an amendment by Rep. Francisco Canseco (R-TX) eliminating all federal funding (which totaled $4.5 million) for a program that supports artistic and cultural initiatives in the District of Columbia. This amendment was offered to legislation funding the federal government (such bills are known as “continuing resolutions, or “CRs”) through September 2011, and cutting $61 billion in federal funding for many government programs.

Canseco urged support for his amendment: “I'm not here to debate the merits of the program. I'm not here to question whether or not the money has been used by the institutions to accomplish good things. What I'm here to do today is to debate and question why this program should be considered a priority and receive taxpayer funding when we're in a fiscal crisis. Make no mistake, we are in a fiscal crisis that threatens not only our economic security but our national security.”

Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) opposed the amendment: “This amendment would entirely eliminate funding for a successful, proven program. The National Capital Arts grant program was established in 1986 to fill a substantial funding gap affecting the major private arts groups in the District of Columbia, our nation's Capital….The fact that we are talking about such a small amount of money in the context of such an enormous deficit, it really seems wrong that children in our nation's Capital would be denied outreach from these arts institutions that are proximate to where they live but wholly inaccessible without this program. So I would urge that we have a heart, particularly for the children in the schools in Washington, D.C. Reject this amendment and leave this very small amount of money in this interior appropriations bill.”

The House agreed to this amendment by a vote of 248-177. Voting “yea” were 223 Republicans and 23 Democrats. 164 Democrats—including a majority of progressives—and 13 Republicans voted “nay.” As a result, the House agreed to an amendment eliminating all federal funding (which totaled $4.5 million) for a program that supports artistic and cultural initiatives in the District of Columbia.