On April 13, the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee approved, by voice vote, a bill (S. 501) that would provide a site for the National Women’s History Museum in the District of Columbia.
Sponsored by Chair Susan Collins (R-ME), S. 501 would direct the General Services Administration to lease the vacant Old Post Office Annex on Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. to the National Women’s History Museum, Inc. for the development of the National Women’s History Museum. According to the bill, the purpose of the National Women’s History Museum is to collect and disseminate information concerning women, including through the establishment of a national reference center for the collection and preservation of documents, publications, and research relating to women; to foster educational programs relating to the history and contribution to society by women, including promotion of imaginative educational approaches to enhance understanding and appreciation of historic contributions by women; and to publicly display temporary and permanent exhibits that illustrate, interpret, and demonstrate the contributions of women.
The Senate approved similar legislation in 2003, but the House did not act on the measure before the end of the 108th Congress (see The Source, 11/26/03).
