Admission to the Smithsonian Institution, which is 70 percent federally funded, has long been free. That would change under a proposal by the national commission charged with reducing the deficit, reports Kate Taylor for the New York Times. In a draft report from last Wednesday, it recommended that the Smithsonian’s federal appropriation be cut by $225 million, or roughly 30 percent, and that the institution make up the loss by charging a $7.50 admission fee.

The Smithsonian’s spokeswoman, Linda St. Thomas, said by phone that the Smithsonian had studied the idea of charging admission several times in recent decades, and at each point rejected it.

“The Regents have said repeatedly we don’t want to charge admission because it then makes it difficult for all people to come and visit the collections, which in theory are held in trust for the American people,” St. Thomas said.

She pointed out that, because the Smithsonian is federally funded, Americans are in a sense already paying to visit, through their tax dollars.

Various political leaders in Washington have been trying to throw an admission fee at the Smithsonian for years, without success. The most recent time the issue was raised was in 2006, when Representative James P. Moran, a Democrat of Virginia, suggested that the Smithsonian pay for building repairs by charging a $1 admission fee.