In this vote, the House defeated an amendment offered by Bob Beauprez (R-CO) to H.R. 2361 that would have reduced by $30 million funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and increased by $27.5 million funding for the U.S. Forest Service. H.R. 2361 was a bill to make appropriations (fund) for the Interior Department, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other agencies for fiscal year 2006 (FY06). Beauprez argued that the Forest Service needed the additional funds "for thinning projects to reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfires." He proposed to take the funds from the NEA because "a very small percentage of artistic funds comes from the Federal Government[,]" and "it should be a greater priority of Congress to ensure the safety of our western communities, prevent forest fires, and save lives rather than spend taxpayer dollars for artistic endeavors, enjoyable as they may be." Taking the Progressive position, Norman Dicks (D-WA) argued that the real intent of Beauprez's amendment was to reduce funding for the NEA, which had been attacked by Republicans repeatedly for more than a decade due to the funding of what some in Congress deemed "controversial" art. Progressives won on this issue when the House overwhelmingly defeated this amendment by a vote of 122 to 298, with 108 Republicans crossing party lines to vote "no" with Democrats. Thus, the NEA's funding in the bill was kept intact, as was funding for the U.S. Forest Service.