In the 1990s the NEA’s budget was slashed by 40 percent by a Republican Congress. “Part of the rationale for the federal cuts in the 1990s was that private funding could fill the void. But the share of philanthropy being directed to arts organizations also has declined since 1992, said Robert Lynch, president and chief executive officer of Americans for the Arts. That drop represents an $8.4 billion loss to the arts in private sector giving.”