Source: United States Senator for New Jersey Bob Menendez
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), the highest ranking Latino in the Congress, applauds the inclusion of more than $8 million for the National Museum of the American Latino and other Smithsonian Latino initiatives in the Fiscal Year 2022 government funding law, which he and several of his colleagues in the Senate and Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) worked to include in the funding package. This funding will be critical in the eventual construction of the museum, whose location is currently under consideration by the Smithsonian Institution.
“This federal funding represents yet another step forward in our efforts to create the National Museum of the American Latino,” said Sen. Menendez. “I will keep working with Senate and CHC colleagues, advocacy groups, and our broad coalition of supporters until we secure all the funding needed to build the Smithsonian museum our community deserves – one that honors the cultural, economic, and historic contributions of American Latinos to the fabric of our country.”
Sen. Menendez’s efforts are a part of more than two decades of tireless advocacy to create a Smithsonian Institution museum on the National Mall. The National Museum of the American Latino Act, which was signed into law as part of the 2020 year-end omnibus, paved the way for the creation of the National Museum of the American Latino. The museum would educate current and future generations on the vast political, social, cultural and economic contributions to American life by Latino Americans. Specifically, the law:
- Established a Board of Trustees: Created a 19-member Board of Trustees to help plan and design the construction of the Museum, and; develop the Museum’s collections in order to showcase the life, art, history and culture of American Latinos and their contributions to the United States.
- Created Educational Grants and Scholarships: Authorized the Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services to establish grants and educational programs for children and adults to learn about Latino life, art, history and culture.
- Authorized Site Designation: Allowed the Board of Trustees to explore several sites for either the new construction or development of the Museum, which is currently actively underway.
In 2008, with Presidential and Congressional leadership, a 23-member Commission was established to study the viability of a museum. Sen. Menendez and then Majority Leader Harry Reid first introduced Senate legislation to establish a Latino museum in 2011, following the Commission’s report that determined the museum’s creation was indeed feasible. Sen. Menendez introduced similar legislation again in 2013, 2016, and 2017 before the bill finally passed in the Senate in December 2020. As a member of the House of Representatives, Sen. Menendez cosponsored the original bill to create a Commission to Establish the National Museum of the American Latino, introduced in 2003.
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