Panel OKs Bill on Reagan Memorial

Former President Reagan, who already has an international center and an airport named for him in Washington, may have a memorial on the Mall if a bill passed by a congressional committee Wednesday gets the approval of the House and Senate.

The bill would ignore well-established procedures for the location and design of national memorials in Washington and open the door to other such memorial bills, gutting the Commemorative Works Act. Since that bill passed in 1986, three federal commissions have been responsible for approving the location and design of any memorial.

The Reagan bill would vest the power of the three commissions in a Ronald Reagan Memorial Commission and instruct the secretary of the Interior to assist.

Rep. James V. Hansen (R-Utah) said Reagan deserves a memorial because he “initiated policies that won the Cold War, protected and restored freedom and democracy around the globe, lowered taxes on American citizens.”