REQUESTING SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR TO AUTHORIZE UNIQUE AND ONE-TIME DISPLAYS ON THE NATIONAL MALL AND WASHINGTON MONUMENT BEGINNING JULY 16, 2019 AND ENDING JULY 20, 2019; Congressional Record Vol. 165, No. 96
(House of Representatives - June 10, 2019)
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[Pages H4377-H4378]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
REQUESTING SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR TO AUTHORIZE UNIQUE AND ONE-TIME
DISPLAYS ON THE NATIONAL MALL AND WASHINGTON MONUMENT BEGINNING JULY
16, 2019 AND ENDING JULY 20, 2019
Mr. SOTO. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee
on Natural Resources be discharged from further consideration of the
joint resolution (H.J. Res. 60) requesting the Secretary of the
Interior
[[Page H4378]]
to authorize unique and one-time arrangements for displays on the
National Mall and the Washington Monument during the period beginning
on July 16, 2019 and ending on July 20, 2019, and ask for its immediate
consideration in the House.
The Clerk read the title of the joint resolution.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Florida?
There was no objection.
The text of the joint resolution is as follows:
H.J. Res. 60
Whereas Congress enacted the Act of August 12, 1946 (60
Stat. 997; ch. 955, 1), to establish a National Air Museum,
later known as the Smithsonian's National Air and Space
Museum (NASM), to commemorate and memorialize the American
story of human flight in the atmosphere and in outer space;
Whereas Congress enacted the Act of July 29, 1958 (commonly
known as the National Aeronautics and Space Act) (72 Stat.
426-438; 42 U.S.C. 2451 et seq.), to declare a policy of
peaceful space activities designed for the benefit of
humankind and to establish the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA);
Whereas in July of 1960, NASA announced the creation of the
Apollo Program, the Nation's first orchestrated initiative to
ferry humankind out of Earth's orbit and to the Moon;
Whereas on July 20, 1969, the Apollo 11 Mission succeeded
in landing the spacecraft Eagle on the surface of the Moon,
piloted by two American astronauts, the first humans to ever
make landfall on another celestial body;
Whereas on July 20 and 21, 1969, those brave Americans
became the first humans to set foot on the surface of the
Moon, forever changing Earth's relationship with the heavens;
Whereas this momentous event was watched in wonder by
hundreds of millions of people back on Earth, including the
hundreds of thousands of NASA civilian and military staff and
partners who made the Apollo Program possible;
Whereas the Apollo Program continued through December of
1972 and spurred the greatest development of human scientific
and technological understanding of any decade to that point,
leading to advances in rocketry, spaceflight, avionics,
telecommunications, and computers, on which the American
public still relies today;
Whereas the National Air and Space Museum opened on the
American Bicentennial in July 1976 as a birthday gift to the
country in celebration of the Nation's highest achievements,
under the leadership and vision of Museum Director, NASA
astronaut, and Apollo 11 Command Module Pilot Michael
Collins;
Whereas NASA continues to pursue space exploration on
behalf of the American people to increase humankind's
understanding of the heavens; and
Whereas the National Air and Space Museum continues to
memorialize the history of American discovery and invention,
and seeks to educate and inspire new generations of
innovators and explorers to ensure that our future
achievements in space are fully empowered by the achievements
of the past: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled, That
Congress--
(1) requests the Secretary of the Interior to authorize
unique and one-time arrangements for the display of NASA and
Smithsonian artifacts, digital content, film footage, and
associated historic audio and imagery, in and around the
vicinity of the National Mall, including projected onto the
surface of the Washington Monument for five nights of public
display during the period beginning on July 16, 2019 and
ending on July 20, 2019; and
(2) respectfully requests that the Clerk of the House of
Representatives transmit an enrolled copy of this resolution
to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and Director
of the National Air and Space Museum.
The joint resolution was ordered to be engrossed and read a third
time, was read the third time, and passed, and a motion to reconsider
was laid on the table.
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