[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Con. Res. 145 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. CON. RES. 145

    Expressing the sense of Congress on the propriety and need for 
 expeditious construction of the National World War II Memorial at the 
       Rainbow Pool on the National Mall in the Nation's Capitol.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

            October 6 (legislative day, September 22), 2000

  Mr. Warner (for himself, Mr. Inouye, Mr. Thurmond, and Mr. Stevens) 
submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was considered and 
                               agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
    Expressing the sense of Congress on the propriety and need for 
 expeditious construction of the National World War II Memorial at the 
       Rainbow Pool on the National Mall in the Nation's Capitol.

Whereas World War II is the defining event of the twentieth century for the 
        United States and its wartime allies;
Whereas in World War II, more than 16,000,000 American men and women served in 
        uniform in the Armed Forces, more than 400,000 of them gave their lives, 
        and more than 670,000 of them were wounded;
Whereas many millions more on the home front in the United States organized and 
        sacrificed to give unwavering support to those in uniform;
Whereas fewer than 6,000,000 World War II veterans are surviving at the end of 
        the twentieth century, and the Nation mourns the passing of more than 
        1,200 veterans each day;
Whereas Congress, in Public Law 103-422 (108 Stat. 4356) enacted in 1994, 
        approved the location of a memorial to this epic era in an area of the 
        National Mall that includes the Rainbow Pool;
Whereas since 1995, the National World War II Memorial site and design have been 
        the subject of 19 public hearings that have resulted in an endorsement 
        from the State Historic Preservation Officer of the District of 
        Columbia, three endorsements from the District of Columbia Historic 
        Preservation Review Board, the endorsement of many Members of Congress, 
        and, most significantly, four approvals from the Commission of Fine Arts 
        and four approvals from the National Capital Planning Commission 
        (including the approvals of those Commissions for the final 
        architectural design);
Whereas on Veterans Day 1995, the President dedicated the approved site at the 
        Rainbow Pool on the National Mall as the site for the National World War 
        II Memorial; and
Whereas fundraising for the National World War II Memorial has been enormously 
        successful, garnering enthusiastic support from half a million 
        individual Americans, hundreds of corporations and foundations, dozens 
        of civic, fraternal, and professional organizations, state legislatures, 
        students in 1,100 schools, and more than 450 veterans groups 
        representing 11,000,000 veterans: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), 
That it is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) it is appropriate for the United States to memorialize 
        in the Nation's Capitol the triumph of democracy over tyranny 
        in World War II, the most important event of the twentieth 
        century;
            (2) the will of the American people to memorialize that 
        triumph and all who labored to achieve it, and the decisions 
        made on that memorialization by the appointed bodies charged by 
        law with protecting the public's interests in the design, 
        location, and construction of memorials on the National Mall in 
        the Nation's Capitol, should be fulfilled by the construction 
        of the National World War II Memorial, as designed, at the 
        approved and dedicated Rainbow Pool site on the National Mall; 
        and
            (3) it is imperative that expeditious action be taken to 
        commence and complete the construction of the National World 
        War II Memorial so that the completed memorial will be 
        dedicated while Americans of the World War II generation are 
        alive to receive the national tribute embodied in that 
        memorial, which they earned with their sacrifice and 
        achievement during the largest and most devastating war the 
        world has known.
                                 <all>