Rep. Sykes Votes Against Politicized Women’s History Museum Bill
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Emilia Sykes (OH-13), Vice Chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus (DWC), voted against H.R. 1329, the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum Act, after House Republicans undermined a years-long bipartisan effort to advance the museum. The bill failed by a vote of 204-216.
“Women deserve to tell their own stories. For years, my DWC colleagues and I worked with Republicans on a bipartisan bill to get the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum across the finish line. This fight was rooted in the shared belief that women’s history and women’s stories are integral to who we are as a nation,” said Rep. Sykes.
“But then, with no warning, Republicans completely changed the bill, throwing away years of bipartisan work and broad support. They amended the bill to give Trump and his allies unregulated power over what content and which women can be included in the museum, and the museum’s location. A museum about women, fought for and supported by women, should not be controlled by one man.
“The fact that this bill was rejected by both Democrats and Republicans sends a powerful message: women’s history is American history and cannot be politicized. However, the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum is still long overdue. The bill must be restored to the bipartisan version we fought for so we can get the long-awaited museum on our National Mall.”
In 2020, Congress authorized both the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum and the National Museum of the American Latino with broad bipartisan support. Since then, lawmakers from both parties have worked to advance legislation establishing museum sites and other key details, including the Smithsonian American Women's History Museum Act.
The legislation had long enjoyed bipartisan support, but in March, House Republicans rewrote the bill in committee with a partisan amendment that changed its direction. The amendment added political restrictions, undermined the museum’s independence, and broke from the bipartisan framework that had guided the effort.
Following those changes, Rep. Sykes and her DWC colleagues sent a letter to Speaker Johnson urging him to restore the original bipartisan bill and advance it alongside H.R. 1330, the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino Act.