Conservative House members may propose an amendment to strip funding from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's art program for next year because NASA offered performance artist Laurie Anderson a $20,000 commission to be their first-ever artist-in-residence. One NASA researcher remarked, "What's she going to do, write a poem?" Although the money for the program has fluctuated in the past (between 2000 and 2002 it increased from $25,000 to $100,000), this year it represents $50,000 of NASA's $15 billion budget. NASA claims it sets aside money for paintings and music because as the art program's curator, Bertram Ulrich, put it, "Art is what's left behind of history. It's a way to document something for future generations."
