S.Amdt. 573

SA 573. Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mr. Rubio, and Mr. Heller) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the concurrent resolution S. Con. Res. 8, setting forth the congressional budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2014, revising the appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal year 2013, and setting forth the appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2015 through 2023; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the appropriate place in the resolution, insert the following:

SEC. ___. SENSE OF THE SENATE ON THE CREATION OF A FUTURE SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN LATINO MUSEUM.

(a) Findings.--The Senate finds the following:

(1) The Census Bureau estimates the Latino population in the United States at nearly 50,500,000 people, making Hispanic Americans the largest ethnic minority within the United States.

(2) The United States has grown into a symbol of democracy, freedom, and economic opportunity around the world, and the legacy of American Latinos is deeply rooted in the very fabric of the democracy, freedom, and economic opportunity of the United States.

(3) There exists no national museum within the Smithsonian Institution that is devoted to the documentation of American Latino life, art, history, and culture.

(b) Sense of the Senate.--It is the sense of the Senate that the levels in this concurrent resolution assume--

(1) a Smithsonian American Latino Museum should be created in order to acknowledge and educate all people in the United States about the contributions of Hispanic Americans to the United States;

(2) the Smithsonian Latino Center and the Smithsonian Latino Center's goal of promoting the inclusion of Latino contributions in Smithsonian Institution programs, exhibitions, collections, and public outreach is important; and

(3) in accordance with the recommendations provided to Congress and the President of the United States in the May 2011, report by the National Museum of the American Latino Commission (created by the Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-229)), collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and appropriate Federal and local organizations to increase Latino programming, exhibitions, collections, and outreach at the Smithsonian Institution is encouraged.