Wayne Gilchrest: “I rise in support of S. 1995, a bill to authorize construction of the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space…”

“I rise in support of S. 1995, a bill to authorize construction of the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum Dulles Center at Washington Dulles International Airport. This bill authorizes the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution to construct an extension to the Air and Space Museum currently located on the Washington Mall, on a 185 acre site in the Dulles Airport complex in Virginia. The new facility will permit airplanes, spacecraft, and aviation related artifacts currently stored outdoors to be housed in structures built to museum standards; and provide improved facilities to house the aviation artifacts which are currently stored at the outdated Paul E. Garber facility in Suitland, MD. In addition, the extension will provide a restoration facility capable of handling the largest artifacts in the collection, such as the space shuttle Enterprise and the historic Enola Gay B-29 bomber, for public viewing. The measure ensures that no appropriated funds will be used to pay any expense of the construction.”