Unhold Us, Senators

By GAIL COLLINS
NYT

Congress is staggering toward recess. I’m going to go way out on a limb and guess that they’re not going to accomplish anything major before they leave. But as long as they’re still in town, taking up space, the least they could do is approve the National Women’s History Museum bill.

Honestly, I would not be making this plea if everybody was knee-deep in the budget or reforming the tax structure. But they can barely summon the will to open the mail. And the museum bill always has been uncontroversial. It’s a great idea; it doesn’t cost any money; and virtually everybody in office has already supported some version of it in the past.

The legislation would simply allow a private group, conveniently named National Women’s History Museum, to buy an unlovely piece of federal land on Independence Avenue for the site. “We will pay fair market value and pay for construction,” said Joan Wages, the president. The bill allows five years to raise the money and break ground. If the group fails, the land would revert back to the government, which would get to keep the purchase price.

The problem, Meryl Streep pointed out at a fund-raiser for the museum this week, is getting the government to take the money. At the gala, Duane Burnham, the former chairman of Abbott Laboratories, announced a donation of $1 million in honor of his four granddaughters. Streep then put up $1 million herself.

(More here.)
You have read this article with the title Unhold Us, Senators. You can bookmark this page URL https://ogbcommunity.blogspot.com/2010/09/unhold-us-senators.html. Thanks!

No comment for "Unhold Us, Senators"

Post a Comment

Labels

1956 Suez War 1973 War 1st Amendment About the Blog Abraham Abu Dhabi Afghanistan agriculture Ahmadinejad Ahmed Mansour airlines Al-Jazeera Al-Qa‘ida Algeria Alzheimer’s AmeriCorps ancient history Anwar Sadat ANZACs appliance rebate April 15 AQAP Arab League Arab newspapers Arab World Arab-Americans Arab-Israeli Issues Arabic language archaeology Asads Ashraf Marwan atrazine Ausrtralia Ayman Nour back pain Bahrain bailouts bank assets to GDP bank capital bank guarantees bank nationalisation Barack Obama being a patient Berbers bethlehem bias billionaires biodiversity Biography birther blahs Blankfein blog action day blogs and blogging books BP brain cancer brain injury brainless bratwurst breast cancer breast cancer Britain Buckley v. Valeo Budget 2009 bully business Cairo camels cancer cancer bonds cancer cause cancer cure cancer detection cancer diagnosis cancer research cancer risk cancer treatment Capital Flows carbon footprint care giving Catholic Church censorship CEO pay Chamber of Commerce chemo brain chemotherapy child abuse China chlorine Christmas Citizens United Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission climate change climate science clinical trials coal coal power coffeehouse gossip college colon cancer colonialism communication Congress Constellation Brands Constitution coping Copts corporations corruption coups credibility Credit Crunch credit default swaps CSAs Cuba cure death debt debt crisis defense issues deficits democratization derivatives DFL diet diglossia Diplomacy distractions doctor appointments doctor questions doctors Don Gordon donating Double Dip Druze Dubai Earth Day earthquakes East Asia and the Middle East economics Egypt ElBaradei elbow elections emotions energy Eurozone Growth Eurozone Spreads exercises extinction fairness Fallujah fat fatigue FDR Federal Reserve film Finance First World War Fiscal Stimulus food football Fox News France fraud Friday Prayer friends funding Gallo Gamal Mubarak Garrison Keillor Gaza GCC Geopolitics George W. Bush Ghajar Global Imbalances global warming Golden Rule Goldman Sachs GOP government debt Greece Greenland Gulf oil spill Gulf states Haiti Hajj Hamas Hariri head injury healing Health health care health care reform health insurance healthcare healthcare reform healthiness healthy eating healthy living Hebron hedge funds Helen Thomas helping herbicides Herding Hizbullah holidays holy places http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.ghttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifif http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif humanity humor Husni Mubarak IDF Imazighen income tax incompetence Indian Ocean inflation information technology injections insider trading insolvency insurance intelligence Internet Iran Iraq Iraq war Ireland Islam Islamophobia Israel Israeli newspapers Israeli politics Italy Japan Jerusalem Jim Klobuchar Jordan Judaism Jundallah Koch Industries Kurdish issues Kuwait Kyrgyzstan labor lack of sleep languages learning Lebanon Leukimia levothyroxine Libya life lists Lung cancer Maghreb Maldives Manas Maronites masters of manipulation Mauritania Mecca media medical costs medical errors medical history medical information medication MEI MEI Annual Conference meltdown metastatic cancer Middle East Journal Middle Eastern Christians military affairs Minnesota Minnesota GreenCorps Minnesota taxes monetary policy Morocco mortality Mossad Motivasi Muhammad Naguib Muqtada al-Sadr music music videos Muslim Brotherhood mzerim n Napa Nasser national anthems NATO needles Netanyahu New Deal New York New Zealand news NFL nitrogen pollution no-fly zone Non Sequitur normal nostalgia Nowruz nuclear crisis nuclear weapons Obama obituaries ocean acidification oil Oman Omar Suleiman oncologist optimism organic output gap ovarian cancer overscheduled pain Pakistan Palestine Palestinian Authority palliative Pat Robertson patient rights patriotism Pawlenty Pays d'Oc pesticides pink washing Pinot Noir Plan B planning PLO politics Pope Shenouda III Portfolios Prediction Markets prescriptions press freedom price of risk procedures prostate cancer prostitution protests Public Debt Qadhafi Qatar Quantitative Easing Qur'an radioactive iodine Ras al-Khaimah Ray McGovern Reagan recalls Recession recommendations recurrence remembrance Republican Party research revolutions Richard B. Parker rock bands royalty Rush Limbaugh Saad Zaghloul Saddam Hussein safety sanity Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Satan Saudi Arabia scars Scott Walker Sectarianism settlements Shi‘ism Shin Bet shipping side effects skepticism Skin cancer sleep social justice social networking solar cells solar energy solar power soy Spare Capacity special operations sphagnum moss sports state budget stem cell Stephen Ross Wine Cellars Sterling Streisand Effect stress Stuxnet succession issues Sudan Summits Sunnis Super Bowl support Supreme Court surgery swimming pool Syria Tamazight Target Corp. Target stores tax cuts taxes teaching televangelism television Territorial disputes terrorism testing The ___ Gulf The UK think tanks thyroid cancer Tifinagh time tired Tom Emmer tourism transportation trauma travel Tulocay Winery Tunisia Turkey UAE UK fiscal policy UK Recession unions United Nations universities university US US Administration US Civil War US military US Presidential Election Utah vacation vegetables Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity Veteran's Day video volunteer volunteer work Walid Jumblatt Wall Street water wealth weather Weekend Historical Videos weight loss wellness Western Sahara Wikileaks wine Wisconsin women Woods Hole World War II Yemen YItzhak Rabin young cancer patients Zahi Hawass Zero Bound