Orrin Hatch: “I rise today to discuss the Preserving the American Historical Record Act, a bill that I introduced along with Senator…”

“I rise today to discuss the Preserving the American Historical Record Act, a bill that I introduced along with Senator Levin today. This is a piece of legislation designed to ensure the protection of important historical documents housed and preserved at the State and local level. Put simply, this legislation would require the Archivist of the United States to make grants to the States for a number of purposes, including protecting historical records, promoting the use of such records in new and creative ways, providing education and training to those who care for historical records and creating a wide variety of access tools of key records maintained by State and local organizations. The bill authorizes $50,000,000 a year--a very modest sum, all things considered--to be distributed among the States according to formulas based on both size and geographical area.”