[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 30 (Thursday, March 4, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E309]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       INTRODUCTION OF THE SMITHSONIAN FREE ADMISSION ACT OF 2010

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                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 4, 2010

  Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, today I introduce the Smithsonian Free 
Admission Act to reinforce 170 years of consistent Smithsonian policy 
of admitting the public to all permanent exhibits without charge. This 
policy has served the Nation well. Families come to Washington to learn 
about their country through its public monuments and sites. While the 
private amenities can be costly for the average family, Americans have 
looked forward to the free museums and other official offerings for 
generations. The Smithsonian's free admission policy reflects the 
intent of its founder, John Smithson, whose gift to the federal 
government carried the condition that the Smithsonian be established to 
increase the knowledge of the public, free of charge. The bill 
establishing the Smithsonian, introduced by Senator William C. Preston 
on February 17, 1841, stated explicitly that the Smithsonian would 
``preserve and exhibit with no fee'' all works of art and science. This 
intent and tradition was interrupted by the Smithsonian's Board of 
Regents, without notice to Congress, with the casual comment that it 
would charge an admission fee for a permanent exhibit for the first 
time in its history, and on January 29, 2007, the Smithsonian 
instituted a fee for admission to the National Museum of Natural 
History's Butterfly Pavilion. Congress, of course, not the Board of 
Regents, should decide so basic a policy, especially when it departs 
from long-standing public policy. The admission fee sets a harmful 
precedent for future permanent exhibits, which will make it difficult 
to deny the other Smithsonian entities that right and may encourage 
other Smithsonian entities to structure their exhibits to fit the 
Butterfly Pavilion model.
  The Butterfly Pavilion opened on February 14, 2008. Although the 
Smithsonian had previously charged fees for films and shows, such as 
IMAX films, the National Air and Space Museum's Planetarium, and the 
National Zoo's Christmas Lights special, the $6 admission fee for the 
Butterfly Pavilion marked the first time admission fees were charged 
for a permanent exhibit. My bill requires a report to Congress in 
advance of any proposed fees and requires the Secretary of the 
Smithsonian Institution to submit a plan for funding the Butterfly 
Pavilion, in order to eliminate the admission fee for the exhibit.
  The Smithsonian Modernization Act, which I am also introducing today, 
addresses the Smithsonian's fundraising capacity by restructuring and 
expanding the Smithsonian's Board of Regents, from a board almost half 
of whose members are public officials to a board consisting solely of 
private citizens, who will have greater experience and fundraising 
capacity than public officials. The fundraising capability of the 
Smithsonian is clear in the opening of the National Portrait Gallery, 
for example. According to a Congressional Research Service, CRS, report 
(RL 33560), donors contributed funds for the new auditorium and roof 
over the courtyard of the National Portrait Gallery.
  The Smithsonian Modernization Act and similar measures, not admission 
fees, provide the most realistic vehicles to raise funds for the 
Smithsonian without cost to the government or to the public. Admission 
fees can bring in only token amounts. According to the CRS, the 
Smithsonian has long prided itself on ``free access.'' Admission fees 
are not the answer for taxpayers, who have already paid through the 
federal government's 70 percent contribution to this public 
institution's annual budget. Federal taxpayers do not expect to pay 
again through an admission fee to a federally-financed institution.
  I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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