September 28, 2003
Dear Coalition Friends:
Good news! The Senate-passed Interior Appropriations bill also puts a stop on the Park Service's plans for an underground visitor center/tunnel at the Washington Monument.
The amendment, S. Amdt. 1777, was sponsored by Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND), the ranking Democrat on the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee. It was included in the managers' amendment package to the Interior Appropriations bill and was adopted by the Senate by voice vote. Both Senator Jeff Bingaman's (D-NM) amendment (banning commercial advertising on the Mall) and the Dorgan amendment are subject to the House-Senate conference negotiations on the Interior bill.
We also hear that, in addition to Bingaman and Dorgan, the Chair of the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT), has serious reservations about the tunnel plan, especially the cost.
For information about contacting Congress, you can go to: http://www.savethemall.org/act/cong.html
Here's the text of the Dorgan amendment:
S. Amdt. 1777. Mr. DORGAN proposed an amendment to the bill H.R. 2691, making appropriations for the Department of the Interior and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2004, and for other purposes; as follows:
On page 24, line 5, immediately following the colon, insert "Provided further, That none of the funds provided in this or any other Act may be used for planning, design, or construction of any underground security screening or visitor contact facility at the Washington Monument until such facility has been approved in writing by the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations:"
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