President Trump's proposed budget would cut entirely the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), according to a new report by The New York Times.

Federal officials told the Times that the chairwoman of the arts endowment told her staff the news Wednesday. It was reportedly met with a mix of sadness and surprise.

Chairwoman Jane Chu reportedly told staff that the arts endowment would continue business as usual as the budget process moves forward and said she called the meeting because she didn't want staff hearing from the media.

Trump's plan to eliminate the NEA was first reported in January, shortly before his inauguration.

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His administration considered privatizing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and eliminating the NEA and NEH.

While public broadcasting and the two arts programs have been popular conservative targets for decades, control of both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue gives the GOP a real chance to achieve a long sought-after goal.

Funding for the national endowments is a relatively thin slice of the nearly $4 trillion federal budget. The NEA secured $148 million from the federal government in 2016, roughly the same amount requested by the NEH.