Smithsonian American Women's History Museum Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. MALLIOTAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Steil for helping us advance this bill to the floor. He knows very well the role that his State of Wisconsin played in being the first to ratify the 19th Amendment.

We are here today because we are voting on a very simple bill. It is a bill to transfer land on The National Mall for the Smithsonian American Women's History Museum, which was already authorized by Congress, overwhelmingly bipartisan, in 2020, and signed by President Donald J. Trump.

Mr. Speaker, this bill, as my colleague has mentioned, had over 230 sponsors. It is very bipartisan, and I think we all agree that it is long past time that the women of this country, who make up more than half of the population, deserve to have a museum that tells their stories and shares their contributions to our great country.

Women like Rosie the Riveter and the millions of women who stepped onto our factory floors during World War II; the more than 10,000 code girls of Arlington Hall, who were secretly recruited by the U.S. Army and Navy during World War II to serve as code breakers; the 855 women of the Six Triple Eight, the only all-Black, all-female battalion deployed overseas during World War II; the Black Angels of my district, who were courageous nurses who, at the height of segregation, worked toward and did find the cure for tuberculosis; the first female Member of Congress, Jeannette Rankin; Susan B. Anthony and the suffragists, the great role that they played in our Nation's history, they are who we are here to honor today.

Yes, we have more than enough women to display in this museum that we shouldn't be fighting over the need to have nonbiological individuals in there.

I don't understand why we are pulling bipartisan support from legislation to establish this museum. As a matter of fact, let me read it so that everybody at home knows exactly what this debate is over. It is over one sentence: ``The Museum shall be dedicated to preserving, researching, and presenting the history, achievements, and lived experiences of biological women in the United States.''

That is what the disagreement is about. That is what the big controversy is about.

I hate to alert my friends on the other side of the aisle, but a museum dedicated to women's history should have women in it. That is it. That is simple. That was just something that, through this process, regular order, going through the committee process, a Member put forward an amendment. It was adopted by the majority of the members on the committee, and it added that simple provision.

The idea that President Trump--by the way because Democrats are saying that the National Planning Commission is now a Trump commission. This is a commission that was established by Congress over 100 years ago. It is not a new commission. In fact, the President only has three appointees to that 12-person commission. To say that he has complete control is just simply not true.

I really hope that some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will join us on this because it would be sad to see that all of the Democrats would vote down this important bill.

Yet, I will say that it was a Republican Senator who introduced the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.

It was a Republican Congress that passed the 19th Amendment to give women the right to vote.

It was a majority of GOP States that gave women the right to vote when they ratified that amendment.

It was a GOP President who gave us Title IX, which prohibited sex- based discrimination in the educational programs.

And, yes, it was President Donald Trump, a Republican, who authorized this museum in 2020.

If Republicans have to carry the water again to deliver for the women of America, we will do so, but I really hope that this can remain a bipartisan measure.

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Ms. MALLIOTAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I want to clarify some points and answer some of the questions of my colleague. This is like the good old times in the New York State Assembly. Mr. Morelle and I had fun debating there, as well.

First of all, let me say that this bill is actually site-specific. It does include the quadrants of the site that was selected by the American Women's History Museum Advisory Council. The original version, which we have introduced, did not have those specific quadrants. It did not specify a specific site. It just allowed for a future selected site to be transferred.

In that case, there was no clarity on what the site was, so we amended the bill to add the specific quadrants of the south Capitol site on The National Mall so it would be clear that it is the selected site of the museum's advisory council.

Yes, it does give 180 days for the President, if necessary, to alter. That is because if, for some reason, there is a problem with that site, and it turns out we can't build on it, if the engineers come back and say that there is a problem, that it can't be built on, then we don't want to have to go through this entire process and have to pass another piece of legislation. We would just all work together to select a site that would be suitable.

In terms of specificity, this bill actually gives more clarity on the location than the initial version.

That is the only thing that has changed, that provision, as well as adding the sentence about ensuring that it is biological women. That was amended in the committee process.

As I said, every piece of legislation is introduced here. We garnered 230 cosponsors. It went to the committee. The committee went through regular order. Somebody had an amendment, and the amendment passed. Therefore, it was added. That was added as a result to ensure that there is clarity that only biological women would be represented in a women's museum.

I also want to address this issue about the National Capital Planning Commission. This is not President Donald Trump's commission. This was a commission that was established over 100 years ago, in which the President gets only three appointees. The commission is a 12-member Federal body.

Obviously, anything that is built as a Capital project goes through this commission. It is not as if it is a new commission that was set up by this particular President. Both this commission and the Fine Arts Commission were established well over a century ago, and the 12-member makeup of this is 3 appointees only by the President. That is not a majority. That is not giving the President unanimous control.

The Mayor of Washington, D.C., gets an appointment. The chair of the D.C. Council gets an appointment. The House and Senate committee chairs with the D.C. jurisdiction, their committees get an appointment. The heads of the DOD, Interior, and GSA get an appointment. There are two mayoral appointees. That is the makeup of this.

I know sometimes my colleagues on the other side may have a little difficulty with math. We see that during the budgeting, where they want to spend more than we can afford. Three is not the majority in a commission of 12.

Please stop lying and saying that the commission is being controlled by one particular man. That is simply not the case.

I just wanted to give those clarifying points.

Again, I want to reiterate that I am very proud that it is the Republican Party that is putting forward this legislation. This was authorized, again, by President Trump in 2020. President Joe Biden had 4 years to move this ball forward and to designate the land. He did not do it, so we are here today with the same President who authorized the women's museum, President Donald J. Trump.

What I will say is that they claim, the other side, to be the party of women, yet it is the Republican Party that introduced the 19th Amendment and that passed the 19th Amendment. It was majority Republican-led States that ratified the 19th Amendment.

Title IX is so important to women in our colleges, female athletes, and all educational programs. That was signed into law by a Republican President.

Yes, it is a Republican President today who has authorized the women's history museum, and it will be a Republican majority in Congress that gets this done. That is because, for 4 years, the other side, when they had control, failed to do so.

I still hope that this will be a bipartisan vote. It really should be. There is no reason for this not to come out of this House today and to celebrate the women of America.

We can all be proud of women who have contributed from our respective States to the building of this Nation. As my colleague said, there have been so many struggles over the years, whether it be the right to vote or whether it be to apply for a credit card without needing a male cosigner. Women weren't allowed to be on a jury. They weren't allowed to attend a military academy. These are stories that need to be told.

Sadly, the current generation and future generations may take a lot for granted. We don't know the history of the struggles that women have endured.

Mr. Speaker, I hope that we can come out of this today with a bipartisan vote in support. Let's get this museum done, and let's do something that we can all be proud of as Americans.

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