"I approved that," Mr. Trump said without missing a beat, saying he's a fan of the arts. "The Kennedy Center has suffered greatly, because nobody can go there - it's essentially closed."
The President said Democrats had originally asked for $35 million, but that he chopped that down to $25 million.
President Trump on $25 million for @kencen: "This was a request from the Democrats because of the fact that they have a facility that's essentially closed up...If I wanted to go there tonight to look at Romeo and Juliet, I'd love to go see Romero and Juliet..." pic.twitter.com/fQu1N1Fryj
— CSPAN (@cspan) March 25, 2020
The provision had garnered the ire of some Republicans in the Congress, who felt it was nothing more than Democrats trying to stuff funding for pet projects into the economic rescue package.
"Dems are again exploiting a crisis to fund their liberal wishlist," said Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO), who criticized money for the Kennedy Center, museums, public broadcasting, and libraries.
Funding for “Washington’s Opera House” has no place in a coronavirus response bill.
— Congressman Ken Buck (@RepKenBuck) March 25, 2020
We need to focus on policy that will instill confidence in the American people and get our economy back up and running. pic.twitter.com/wykYeD0eHb
At the White House, the President said there was nothing going on other than simple negotiations.
"But, you got to give them something, it was something that they wanted," Mr. Trump told reporters, giving some insight into the negotiations in recent days.
"You know it works that way. Democrats have treated us fairly," the President added.
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