I studied the list of cuts that were announced ten days ago with a certain sense of interest combined with a growing sense of mystification. The list of things that were cut, in some senses, seemed to make sense. They were ideologically consistent. I could see where the government was coming from, and I could say okay, I understand.
I'm still trying to figure out a few of the cuts that were proposed, and I'm hoping that as time goes on the wisdom behind them will become clearer to me. One of them is certainly the proposed cut to the public diplomacy budget of $11.8 million. The other of course was the cuts to the small museums assistance program through the museums assistance program. In that case, I was not really able to see where there had been money wasted. I had understood that the government's own committee had made recommendations to review and enhance that program, and yet the announcement came.
I suppose what I'm saying is that I'm watching and waiting to see what comes next. I'm deeply concerned and deeply interested.