Sponsors (27)
The bill preserves a formal, centuries-long historical time capsule and memorial and fosters interagency coordination, but does so at public expense and by locking materials away for 250 years, preventing contemporary access and study.
Future Americans, historians, and public visitors gain a long-term preserved 2026-era time capsule and a marked memorial on the Capitol West Lawn, creating a centuries-spanning historical record.
Congressional leaders, the Architect of the Capitol, and Smithsonian staff have a formal consultative process for selecting capsule contents, encouraging interagency cooperation and shared stewardship.
Historians, educators, and the public cannot access the sealed capsule for 250 years, limiting contemporary research, exhibition, and educational use of its materials.
Taxpayers may bear the costs of preparing, burying, marking, securing, and maintaining the capsule and plaque, creating a direct public expense.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Introduced January 15, 2025 by Bonnie Watson Coleman · Last progress February 27, 2025
Creates a Congressional time capsule to be prepared, sealed, and buried on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol by the Architect of the Capitol on or before July 4, 2026. The contents are jointly chosen by the four congressional leadership offices, must include representative Semiquincentennial materials, legislative milestones, and a message to the future; the capsule will remain sealed until July 4, 2276 and then be presented to the 244th Congress for disposition.