More Money for Arts in Indiana Dems Budget

Indiana’s budget passed by a committee in the House of Representatives eases cuts proposed by Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels. WFPL’s Elizabeth Kramer has more.The House Ways and Means committee passed a one-year budget, instead of one covering two years. It erases the governor’s proposed cuts to education. It also reduces the Indiana Arts Commission’s budget by 8 percent, rather than the governor’s proposed 50 percent decrease.The budget was crafted by the committee led by democrats, including Rep. Terry Goodinfrom Southern Indiana’s 66th District."In times of economic crisis, it seems like those areas are the places that are cut the most, which was evidenced in the governor’s budget," Goodin says. "The arts are very critical and it’s also one area that has a very tough time finding any other types of funding."The Democrats’ plan would spend $14.6 billion in 2010 whereas Gov. Daniel’s plan spends $14.15 billion.Goodin says most of the budget is what the Republican governor proposed."We took his outline and we actually built a budget using some of his proposals as a blueprint, and we put together a one-year budget that’s going to move our state forward," he says.The bill now goes to the full House.