A bill to provide that the great hall of the Capitol Visitor Center shall be known as Emancipation Hall.

Mr. President, I rise today, as chairman of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, to voice my support of legislation to name the great hall in the new Capitol Visitor Center ``Emancipation Hall.''

This legislation--S.1679--was introduced by Senator Mary Landrieu on June 21, 2007, and is cosponsored by Senator Barack Obama. I am proud to join them as a cosponsor.

A companion bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives by Representatives Zach Wamp and Jesse Jackson. The measure has over 225 cosponsors in the House and last week it was approved by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. It is my understanding that it will soon be taken up by the House, which earlier approved the proposal as part of the fiscal year 2008 legislative branch appropriations bill.

I encourage my colleagues in the Senate to support this legislation.

The naming of ``Emancipation Hall'' in the new Capitol Visitor Center would be a fitting tribute to the contributions of slaves in the construction of our Nation's Capitol Building. It would also serve to recognize the end of slavery in the United States.

The Capitol Visitor Center is nearing completion, and its Great Hall promises to be a spectacular place--an estimated 3 million people are expected to gather in the area as they come to visit our great Capitol each year.

And through large skylights in the ceiling, visitors will be able to look upwards and gaze upon the grand Capitol dome.

This environment is the perfect place for visitors to reflect upon the construction of the U.S. Capitol, and to recognize the slaves who helped to build it.

The total number of slaves who worked on the Capitol is unknown. But there is evidence that slave workers contributed in a number of important ways to its construction. This includes a slave named Philip Reid who played an important role in the casting of the 19-foot, 15,000-pound bronze Statue of Freedom that rests atop the Capitol dome. Others are memorialized in pay stubs to their owners for work done in the Capitol.

Naming the Great Hall of the Capitol Visitor Center as ``Emancipation Hall'' would serve to recognize both the brutal truth of our Nation's past and the importance of freedom as a pillar of modern America.

The history of slavery in the United States is a grim chapter in our Nation's history. But the Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, was an important step toward abolishing slavery in the United States.

In the Emancipation Proclamation, President Lincoln declared:

I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves

within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and

henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government

of the United States, including the military and naval

authorities thereof; will recognize and maintain the freedom

of said persons.

While the Emancipation Proclamation did not officially abolish slavery in all of the United States, it was an important commitment by the government to end this centuries-long injustice.

By sustaining the history of this great act, we highlight the importance of freedom. And by naming the Capitol Visitor Center's main entry as ``Emancipation Hall,'' we do so in a significant way that all visitors of our Nation's Capitol Building will notice and respect.

As chairman of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee and the Joint Committee on the Library, which oversees Capitol artwork, I believe it is very important to provide an accurate and diversified image of our Nation for the visitors to our Capitol. The naming of ``Emancipation Hall'' would be one step toward achieving that.

I also welcome a new report by the congressional Slave Labor Task Force, which has come forward with a number of recommendations for acknowledging and commemorating the work slaves performed in building our Capitol.

I look forward to working with the task force on this issue so people throughout the world will know more about the contribution by slaves toward constructing the building that has become the very foundation of our democracy.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Rules Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. 1679 and that the Senate then proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time, passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record, without intervening action or debate.