FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 16, 2001
Contact:  Michael K. Guilfoyle
(401) 732-9400 
 
LANGEVIN VOTES TO MAKE W.W. II MEMORIAL REALITY FOR NATION, AGING VETERANS

House Passes Legislation Ordering Construction of Memorial to Move from 
Drawing Board to Reality

 
(WASHINGTON, D.C.)-Congressman Jim Langevin has voted for passage of H.R. 1696, a bill that will expedite the construction of the World War II Memorial in Washington by accepting as final all approvals and decisions relating to the memorial.  The bill passed by an overwhelming margin of 400 to 15.

“The World War Two memorial has been over 50 years in the waiting,” said Congressman Langevin, a member of the House Armed Services Committee.  “Each and every day, veterans of the last global conflict pass away, without seeing for themselves a completed tribute to their sacrifices in our nation’s capitol.  It is time to proceed with the completion of this memorial and recognize the men and women who lost their lives defending freedom.”

According to the House Armed Services Committee, over the past eight years, there have been 22 public meetings, five approvals from the Commission on Fine Arts and five approvals from the National Capital Planning Commission for the World War II Memorial. Half a million Americans, hundreds of corporations, hundreds of veterans groups and 1,100 schools, have raised more than $170 million for the project.

Unfortunately, work on the memorial has not begun. Since Congress passed a law authorizing the memorial, more than 3.4 million World War II veterans have died and thousands more die every day.

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