National Archives and Records Administration (Nara) Modernization Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 8665) ``to amend title 44, United States Code, to remove pronouns from such title that reference the Archivist, and for other purposes.''

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 8665

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Modernization Act''. SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS.

Title 44, United States Code, is amended--

(1) in section 710, by striking ``his approval'' and inserting ``approval by the President'';

(2) in section 711, by striking ``he shall'' and inserting ``the Director shall'';

(3) in section 2108--

(A) by striking ``transferred to him'' and inserting ``transferred to the Archivist'';

(B) by striking ``appear to him'' and inserting ``appear to the head of the Federal agency'';

(C) by striking ``his custody'' and inserting ``the custody of the head of the Federal agency'';

(D) by striking ``he concurs,'' and inserting ``the Archivist concurs'';

(E) by striking ``his successor in function'', each place it appears, and inserting ``the successor in function of the head of the agency''; and

(F) by striking ``he determines'' and inserting ``the Archivist determines'';

(4) in section 2109--

(A) by striking ``to him'' and inserting ``to the Archivist''; and

(B) by striking ``He may'' and inserting ``The Archivist may'';

(5) in section 2110--

(A) by striking ``he considers'' and inserting ``the Archivist considers''; and

(B) by striking ``his custody'' and inserting ``the custody of the Archivist'';

(6) in section 2112--

(A) by striking ``he may'', each place it appears, and inserting ``the Archivist may'';

(B) by striking ``in him'' and inserting ``in the Archivist'';

(C) by striking ``his custody'' and inserting ``the custody of the Archivist''; and

(D) by striking ``his control'' and inserting ``the control of the Archivist'';

(7) in section 2307, by striking ``his designee'' and inserting ``the designee of the Archivist'';

(8) in section 2903, by striking ``by him'' and inserting ``by the Archivist'';

(9) in section 3308, by striking ``he may'' and inserting ``the Archivist may'';

(10) in section 3310, by striking ``he considers'' and inserting ``the Archivist considers''; and

(11) in section 3311--

(A) by striking ``his legal custody'' and inserting ``the legal custody of the head of the agency of the United States Government'';

(B) by striking ``his opinion'' and inserting ``the opinion of such head of such agency'';

(C) by striking ``he shall'' and inserting ``such official shall''; and

(D) by striking ``he disposed'' and inserting ``such official disposed''.
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Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, H.R. 8665, the National Archives and Records Modernization Act would make a small, yet important update to the U.S. Code. This bipartisan bill would remove references to the pronoun ``he'' when referring to the Archivist and other senior officials of the National Archives and Records Administration, or NARA.

I thank Representative Ro Khanna, chairman of the Subcommittee on the Environment on the Oversight Committee for his leadership on this incredibly important bill. I would also like to recognize Representatives Yvette Herrell, Katie Porter, Byron Donalds, and Danny Davis, who are all original cosponsors.

As the Nation's recordkeeper, NARA plays a critical role in the preservation of the government's most important documents and materials.

NARA's mission is to provide equitable public access to the records of the Federal Government because public access to records strengthens democracy and allows all Americans to understand their history so they can fully participate in government.

Currently, the NARA is being led by Debra Steidel Wall who is serving as Acting Archivist of the United States, and has been a public servant at NARA for more than 30 years.

However, the United States Code does not reflect in its text that women can hold this important position. The code is outdated in its references to the Nation's Archivist and other senior officials as men. It is long overdue that we update title 44 to remove reference to pronouns in the law that wrongly assume that only a man can hold this important role.

Madam Speaker, I strongly support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I urge passage of H.R. 8665, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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