UPDATED WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to cut funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities by 15%.

The vote on Wednesday was 297-114. That was a boost to arts advocates, who argued that such funding was just a tiny fraction of the federal budget yet offered any array of benefits to local communities.

Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) proposed the funding cut via an amendment to a larger government funding bill, arguing that the purpose was to make a “small dent” in federal spending, in which the U.S. is borrowing at a rate of 22% of the budget.

At a House Rules Committee meeting earlier this week, Grothman noted that President Donald Trump had proposed zeroing out funding for the agencies. Instead, Congress has slightly increased the budgets for the two agencies, to about $153 million each in 2018.

“I thought I would take just one little bit of this spending and kind of come down a little more on Donald Trump’s side,” Grothman said at a House Rules Committee hearing earlier this week.

He said that private charities or local governments could make up the difference.

“A modest 15% cut for our president who is trying to do something to help other children and grandchildren is the least we can do,” he said. “I hope you let it on the floor for all of us Trump-sters to have our day.”