TheWeekInCongress.com
Week Ending December 23, 2005
S.652 A bill to provide financial assistance for the rehabilitation of the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the development of an exhibit to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the birth of Benjamin Franklin.
BRIEF
The bill provides for a grant to the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, PA to rehabilitate the National Memorial there. The money would also be spent to develop an exhibit relating to Ben Franklin, the Congressional Research Service said, to be placed at the museum opposite his statue
Sponsor: Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA)
Vote: Passed Senate by Unanimous Consent November 16, 2005. Passed House by voice vote December 19, 2005.
Cost to the taxpayers: $10 million over the next five years.
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MORE INFORMATION
The Franklin Institute is a non-profit corporation established in memory of Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1824. The Institute operates a Science Museum, whose mission is to stimulate interest in and promote public understanding of science.
The Memorial Hall of the Franklin Institute Science Museum serves as the Nation's primary location honoring Benjamin Franklin's life, legacy and ideals. The Benjamin Franklin National Memorial (Memorial) is an affiliated area of the National Park System that is owned and administered by the Franklin Institute. The Memorial includes a colossal seated marble statue of Franklin carved by sculptor James Earle Fraser, which stands in the rotunda of the Franklin Institute's Science Museum. The statue and surrounding Memorial Hall were designated as the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial on October 25, 1972 (Public Law 92-551). Public Law 92-551 contained no provision for the appropriation of funds to be used for acquisition, development, operation, or maintenance of the Memorial. The House committee report (H. Rprt. 92-1592) anticipated that the Franklin Institute would continue to operate and maintain the Memorial at no cost to the government.
The National Park Service entered into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Franklin Institute on November 6, 1973. The MOA outlines the major responsibilities of each party regarding the operation of the Memorial. The Franklin Institute agreed to preserve the memorial in perpetuity, to make no substantial alterations or repairs without the Secretary of the Interior's approval, and to admit the public, free of charge, to the Memorial. In turn, the Secretary agreed to include the Memorial in publications, to make appropriate references to it in the interpretive and information programs of Independence National Historical Park, and to cooperate with the Institute in its maintenance and promotion of the Memorial.
In 2000, the Institute received approximately $300,000 from the Department of the Interior in the form of a `Save America's Treasures' grant. Since 1973, this is the only funding provided to the Institute by the Department. The task of preserving and maintaining the Memorial has proven to be a costly endeavor for the Franklin Institute.
S. 652 would authorize up to $10 million in Federal funds to provide needed rehabilitation and to enhance the experience at the Memorial by adding exhibition space for the proper display of Franklin artifacts. The Institute hopes to renovate the Memorial prior to the celebration of the 300th anniversary of Franklin's birth in 2006.
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