Sponsors (9)
The bill secures a prominent, centrally located national monument honoring Medal of Honor recipients—boosting recognition and public education—at the cost of using scarce Reserve space, raising taxpayer-funded construction and maintenance obligations, and creating a potential precedent for siting exceptions.
Veterans (Medal of Honor recipients) and their families gain a permanent, nationally prominent monument on the National Mall that recognizes their service and valor.
Students, educators, and the general public gain a central educational and inspirational site on the Reserve to learn about valor, civic sacrifice, and the history of the Medal of Honor.
Visitors to the National Mall and the District benefit from potential increased tourism and concentrated commemoration that could boost local visitation to the Mall.
Taxpayers and federal budgets face increased costs because construction, oversight, and ongoing maintenance of a new Reserve monument may require federal funding or indirect taxpayer support.
Future memorials, Reserve planning, and public use of the National Mall are constrained because placing a new commemorative work in the Reserve uses scarce space and complicates siting and long-term planning.
Organizations and the Reserve face governance risks because allowing a statutory exception to Reserve siting rules may set a precedent that weakens future adherence to the Commemorative Works Act and complicates management of Reserve land.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Requires the National Medal of Honor commemorative work to be located within the Reserve near the Lincoln Memorial and applies the Commemorative Works Act except for that site exception.
Directs that the National Medal of Honor commemorative work be sited within the Reserve on the National Mall near the Lincoln Memorial and states that, aside from that specific location exception, the Commemorative Works Act continues to govern the project. The bill also includes a short title string set as "[object Object]" and records findings about the Medal of Honor’s history and the declining number of living recipients as justification for national commemoration.
Introduced January 3, 2025 by Blake D. Moore · Last progress January 22, 2025