“It is long past time that the nation’s capital has a monument honoring the contributions that Presidents John and John Quincy Adams, and First Lady Abigail Adams had on the foundation of our country,” said Delahunt.
On November 5, 2001, Congress passed legislation sponsored by Delahunt and the late Senator Edward Kennedy to establish the Adams Memorial Foundation, a subsequently formed 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, with the sole purpose of creating a memorial commemorating the Adams family in Washington D.C. On December 2, 2002, Congress took further action and authorized the Foundation to place the memorial in land in and around the monumental core of Washington D.C.
In recent testimony before the House Natural Resources Committee, the President of the Adams Memorial Foundation, Mr. Benjamin Adams said, “Since that time, the Foundation has made significant progress towards this goal and has, among other activities: established a board of trustees and supporting committees consisting of notable historians, business leaders and fine arts professionals, developed an initial design concept for the memorial, researched and conducted a preliminary review of more than twenty potential site locations, engaged a leading provider of commemorative planning and design services to complete both an alternate site study and environmental assessment study of potential sites, and coordinated with the U.S. Congress, National Park Service and other important stakeholders.”
However, under the terms of the Commemorative Works Act, the authority of the Adams Memorial Foundation is scheduled to expire on December 2, 2009. The Delahunt bill passed today, H.R. 2802, creates a seven-year reauthorization of the Adams Memorial Foundation. This extension would provide the Foundation with necessary time to complete a formal alternative site study and an environmental assessment of potential sites.
The legislation will now go before the United States Senate.
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