But the corps spends only what Congress appropriates, he said, and tapping the fund is not necessarily easy: even if money has been collected, ordering it to be spent increases the appropriation for the corps, and that can be politically troublesome in times of budget cutting.
Americans for the Arts, a lobbying group, plans to ask Congress on Tuesday to increase the annual appropriation for the National Endowment for the Arts to $200 million from the $155 million that was provided for the agency in the recent omnibus bill.
The Legislature did not increase the $20 million cultural projects appropriation to the New Jersey State Council on the Arts for grants to theaters, dance companies, art galleries and other groups -- a disappointment to those who argued that the state's artists needed more taxpayer support.
Although a few weeks later he was compelled to yield his top party post to Nikita S. Khrushchev, he worked for the next two years to reduce arms appropriations, increase the production of consumer goods at the expense of heavy industry, and provide more incentives for collective farm workers.
Autocratic chairmen like Robert Sikes, who used his position on the military appropriations panel to increase the value of his stock market holdings, were forced to step aside.
"Last fall," he said, "I sponsored an amendment along with Senator Schumer on the supplemental appropriations bill to increase the Army by 10,000, just as sort of an opening salvo.
The budget during that time averaged $273 million a year, then dropped to a low of $250 million in 1998 and 1999, although Congress recently increased the corporation's appropriation to $350 million.
Because the Assembly increased the council's appropriation for salaries and expenses this fiscal year, a chunk of a federal grant that used to pay for administration was freed up to pay for programming, said Kenneth Endick, chairman of the council's grants committee.
To pay for these upgrades, the panel recommends a threefold approach: reducing the contractor labor force by 20%, increasing the USAP's annual appropriation (relative to fiscal year 2012) by 6% for the next 4 years, and diverting 6% of planned science expenditures over the next four years to help pay for the upgrades.
