[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5282 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5282

 To provide funds to the Army Corps of Engineers to hire veterans and 
   members of the Armed Forces to assist the Corps with curation and 
       historic preservation activities, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 12, 2010

  Mr. Barrow introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
             Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide funds to the Army Corps of Engineers to hire veterans and 
   members of the Armed Forces to assist the Corps with curation and 
       historic preservation activities, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Army Corps of Engineers and other Federal agencies 
        are required to preserve and catalogue artifacts and other 
        items of national historical significance that are uncovered 
        during the course of their work.
            (2) Uncatalogued artifacts within the care of Federal 
        agencies are stored in hundreds of repositories and museums 
        across the country.
            (3) In October of 2009, the Army Corps of Engineers, Center 
        of Expertise for Curation and Management of Archeological 
        Collections, used $3,500,000 in temporary funds from the 
        American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to begin the 
        Veterans' Curation Program to employ and train Iraq and 
        Afghanistan veterans in archaeological processing.
            (4) The Veterans' Curation Program employs veterans and 
        members of the Armed Forces in the sorting, cleaning, and 
        cataloguing of artifacts managed by the Army Corps of 
        Engineers.
            (5) Employees of the Veterans' Curation Program gain 
        valuable work skills, including computer database management, 
        records management, photographic and scanning techniques, 
        computer software proficiency, vocabulary and writing skills, 
        and interpersonal communication skills, as well as knowledge 
        and training in archaeology and history.
            (6) Experience in archaeological curation gained through 
        the Veterans' Curation Program is valuable training and 
        experience for the museum, forensics, administrative, records 
        management, and other fields.
            (7) Veterans' Curation Program participants may assist the 
        Army Corps of Engineers to develop a more efficient and 
        comprehensive collections management program and also may 
        provide the workforce to meet the records management needs at 
        other agencies and departments, including the Department of 
        Veterans Affairs.

SEC. 2. TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT FOR VETERANS AND MEMBERS OF THE ARMED 
              SERVICES IN CURATION AND HISTORIC PRESERVATION.

    (a) Training and Employment.--The Chief of the Army Corps of 
Engineers shall develop a Veterans' Curation Program to hire veterans 
and members of the Armed Forces to assist the Corps with its curation 
and historic preservation activities.
    (b) Authorization of Appropriation.--Beginning in fiscal year 2010, 
there is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act 
$10,000,000 for each fiscal year.
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