Sponsors (12)
Creates a carefully preserved, well‑documented 250th‑anniversary congressional time capsule for future Americans while imposing modest administrative and Treasury costs and locking the capsule's contents from public or scholarly access for 250 years.
Students, families, visitors, and future Americans will have a preserved 250th‑anniversary time capsule containing a joint congressional message and commemorative items.
Federal employees and custodians will follow specified low‑degradation material and size standards that increase the likelihood the capsule and its contents remain intact for 250 years.
Taxpayers and visitors will get an informational plaque, approved by congressional committees, that provides context and transparency about the capsule's purpose and placement.
Students, researchers, scholars, and the public will be barred from accessing the capsule's contents until 2276, preventing public or scholarly examination for 250 years.
Federal employees and taxpayers will incur modest administrative costs and staff time for planning and implementing the capsule assigned to the Architect of the Capitol and congressional leadership offices.
The Treasury Department and taxpayers may face production or coordination costs because the bill requires use of commemorative coins minted by the Treasury.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Directs the Architect of the Capitol to create and seal a joint congressional time capsule in the Capitol Visitor Center by July 4, 2026, to be opened July 4, 2276.
Introduced November 20, 2025 by Bonnie Watson Coleman · Last progress November 20, 2025
Requires the Architect of the Capitol to create, seal, and bury a joint congressional time capsule in the Capitol Visitor Center by July 4, 2026, and to keep it sealed until July 4, 2276, when it will be presented to the future Congress for disposition. The capsule’s contents are to be chosen jointly by the four congressional leadership offices, must include a single joint letter and semiquincentennial coins from the Treasury, must be made of low‑degradation materials, and must fit within a specified size limit. The Architect may consult the Smithsonian and other federal entities, must install an informational plaque with committee approval, and must follow rules excluding items that would cause high degradation risk; the measure does not appropriate funds or amend existing commemorative statutes.