President Obama wants to take a big slice out of the federal government’s spending on arts and humanities.

Mr. Obama’s fiscal year 2012 budget proposes cuts of $22-million each for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, leaving them each with $146-million.

Each agency had a budget of $168-million in 2010. The president also wanted to trim spending on them in 2011 but by a smaller amount (more than $6-million). Congress has still not adopted a 2011 budget.