The $825 billion economic recovery package proposed by congressional Democrats last week includes a modest allocation for the National Endowment for the Arts, Artnet reports. Under the plan, the NEA will receive a $50 million boost to its current budget of $144.7 million.

In a throwback to the culture wars of the 1990s, some Republicans have already decried the inclusion of the NEA in the package. Rep. Jerry Lewis of California reportedly said that arts support is "a far cry from the traditional tools of stimulating the economy."

Further on the NEA front, the L.A. Times's Culture Monster blog is reporting that Chicago attorney Michael Dorf seems to be the leading candidate for the next NEA chairman. Dorf, 56, has worked on arts policy both in Chicago and on a national level: He directed development of the city's first official cultural plan, worked in Washington as a top aide to the late Rep. Sidney Yates, who was a strong supporter of the NEA and governmental support for the arts, and acted as legal adviser to an independent commission that sought to save the NEA during the 1990s.

He has also taught university courses in arts policy and advised the Obama transition team's arts group.

Dorf has won the support of union leaders who represent workers in the arts; on January 7, 10 of those leaders, of unions including the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Musicians, interviewed him in an hour-long conference call and walked away in strong favor of his appointment. In the wake of the meeting, Paul E. Almeida, president of the Department for Professional Employees of the AFL-CIO, wrote John Podesta, co-chairman of the Obama-Biden transition team, a letter praising Dorf.

Sources close to the transition say Dorf's appointment is not yet official — he still must pass through the final stages of the selection process.