KATIE HOLMES - KLEIN ADVOCATES ARTS FUNDING ON CAPITOL HILL

KATIE HOLMES' ex-boyfriend CHRIS KLEIN made his lobbying debut at a congressional hearing about arts education on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday (13MAR07). The AMERICAN PIE star testified on the importance of restoring arts funding to public schools at a hearing before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior. Klein revealed that arts programmes at his Omaha, Nebraska high school led to him being discovered and making his debut in the 1999 film ELECTION, co-starring REESE WITHERSPOON. The actor joined jazz musician WYNTON MARSALIS and Black Entertainment Television (BET) co-founder SHEILA JOHNSON to press Congress to restore funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to levels from 15 years ago - before those funds were slashed. They asked that funding for the NEA be increased to $176 million (GBP90 million) for the 2008 fiscal year. That figure matches the federal government's all-time high allocation in 1992.