Sheila Jackson Lee: “I thank the ranking member and the chairman of this committee for considering my amendment. My amendment is prohibiting…”

“I thank the ranking member and the chairman of this committee for considering my amendment. My amendment is prohibiting the use of appropriated funds to limit museum outreach programs administered by the Smithsonian Institution. Again, for programs like this, this is to advocate and create the legislative history of the importance of these programs, and I am glad to have this amendment presented to the Congress at this time. Mr. Chair, in order to fulfill the Smithsonian's mission--the increase and diffusion of knowledge--the Smithsonian seeks to serve an even greater audience, and this has come about over the years by bringing the Smithsonian to enclaves of communities who otherwise would be deprived of the vast amount of cultural history offered by the Smithsonian. The Smithsonian's outreach program serves millions of Americans, thousands of communities, and hundreds of institutions in all 50 States through loans of objects, traveling exhibitions, and sharing of educational resources via publications, lectures, presentations, training programs, and websites. Let me say from personal experience, one of my predecessors, the Honorable Mickey Leland, that many people know died in an airplane going into an Ethiopian mountain trying to bring food to starving people in Eritrea and Ethiopia, had introduced the first bill for a museum dealing with slave history.…”