WASHINGTON ‒ In a rare Congressional effort crossing party lines, Democrat and GOP lawmakers are calling for funding for a new women’s history museum on the National Mall that would join museums celebrating African American and Native American history.
Supporters of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum said it’s important to have a place to showcase the critical role of women in the United States.
“Our nation’s history has been shaped by strong, trailblazing women whose stories deserve to be told,’’ Florida Rep. Kat Cammack, co-chair of the Republican Women’s Caucus, said in a statement. “Sharing those stories is the first step in honoring their monumental accomplishments.’’
Members of the Democratic Women’s Caucus and the Republican Women’s Caucus sent a letter July 21 urging a congressional committee to support funding for the museum.
The effort faces major hurdles, including the Trump administration’s campaign to eliminate diversity initiatives and a push by Republican congressional leaders to drastically cut federal spending.
“It feels like just an absolute Herculean effort to even get people to remember that we are still fighting for this,’’ Rep. Hillary Scholten, a Democrat from Michigan, told USA TODAY. “It’s just been such a challenging effort.”
Bipartisanship effort ‘truly unique’
Republican and Democratic women lawmakers, including Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., have long pushed for the museum to join other Smithsonian Institution museums, including the National Museum of the American Indian and the National African American Museum of History and Culture.
Sens. Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, and the late Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, introduced a measure in 2020 to establish the museum. Congress approved a package that included the women’s history museum and the National Museum of the American Latino. Then-President Donald Trump signed the legislation.
There have been related bills over the years, including one to build the museum on the National Mall and another to fund it.
Scholten and others acknowledge the challenge to get funding this year, but urged the House Appropriations Committee last week to include it in a spending bill.
“We wanted to make it a priority, to put the women’s history (museum) top of mind because as things are getting shut down, we want to say, ‘Not this one. Remember how important this is as we move forward,’” she said.
The fact that both Democrats and Republicans support the museum should help, said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University.
“It’s wonderful to see that this is coming from women on both sides of the aisle,’’ she said.
Scholten, a vice chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus, said some women lawmakers are banding together around the issue. She noted there are a few other bipartisan efforts this Congress, including the congressional softball team.
“(We) are united in making this happen so that we can tell the stories of women changemakers over the years,” she said.
‘So many important stories that need to be told’
While it has had bipartisan support, some Republican lawmakers have objected to the creation of museums they say are based on “group identity.’’
In 2020, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, blocked legislation to create the Latino and women’s history museums saying “the last thing we need is to further divide an already divided nation.”
The Trump administration has pushed to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across all federal agencies. Earlier this year, Trump signed an executive order blasting institutions he said spread “divisive ideology.”
That order named some Smithsonian Institution museums, including the women’s history museum.
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Walsh said while efforts to share histories of women and people of color are labeled as DEI or dangerous, they help fill gaps in telling the nation’s history.
“It isn’t taught in schools and young people, young women and young men – all of us – need to know this history,” she said.
Trump has shown signs of support for the women’s history museum. At an event at the White House in March, Trump told Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., he supported her bipartisan bill to put the museum on the National Mall.
“You get that going and we’re going to back it 100%,’’ he said at an event this spring.
Scholten said supporters welcome a meeting with Trump to discuss the museum.
“We would love to have an audience with him and explain the importance of this museum and why there’s no reason it shouldn’t be able to happen right now,” she said.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Lawmakers renew push for women’s history museum
