President Donald Trump's plan to kill off four cultural agencies that fund the arts is going to pit Republicans against Republicans, former GOP House Majority Leader Tom DeLay tells Newsmax TV.
"I tried to eliminate the Department of Arts and the Department of Humanities and guess who's on these boards of all these artsy fartsy organizations? Rich Republicans,” Delay, R-Texas, told Thursday's "The Steve Malzberg Show."
"And they're the first ones that will hit back at the Republicans for cutting out their favorite little orchestra or their favorite little art gallery."
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Trump's proposed budget calls for ending four independent cultural agencies: the National Endowment for the Arts, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
"I hope it'll happen, I would like to see it happen, but I've got to tell you, he's cutting things . . . to help pay for higher priorities like military and otherwise," DeLay said.
"But there's nothing in his budget that talks about balancing the budget. There's nothing in his budget about lowering the deficit. There's nothing in his budget about paying off the debt and stopping the need for raising the debt ceiling.
"So, once again, here we are, the American people demanded that we stop this runaway spending, and we're not getting it."