Sarah Palin Talks National Endowment for the Arts: 'Frivolous'

The National Endowment for the Arts was established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. To date, the NEA has awarded more than $4 billion to support artistic excellence, creativity, and innovation for the benefit of individuals and communities. The NEA extends its work through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector.

On a Thursday interview with Fox News talk show host Sean Hannity, former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin asserted that the NEA - among other arts organizations - should be cut, saying: "NPR, National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, all those kind of frivolous things that government shouldn't be in the business of funding with tax dollars - those should all be on the chopping block as we talk about the $14-trillion debt that we're going to hand to our kids and our grandkids. Yes, those are the type of things that for more than one reason need to be cut."

Though she didn't specify any other reasons, the Los Angeles Times reports that Palin went on to say that the "reality is we have 15 million Americans who are out of work," despite the fact that the NEA and others like it heavily support the arts industry - which creates approximately 5.7 million jobs a year.

Read the full LA Times article here.