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Miami Herald
4 days ago
- Politics
- Miami Herald
No funding for nascent Smithsonian Latino museum in Trump's 2026 budget request
The Smithsonian's planned American Latino museum – already a political football in the nation's capital – is getting no financial help from President Donald Trump. The museum, still in its infancy, is effectively left out of Trump's proposed 2026 budget. The president's spending plan – the first of his second term – includes no money for the design and development of the museum, one of two new Smithsonian museums green-lit several years ago by Congress. The prospects that the Trump administration would withhold money that the museum needs to get off the ground is potentially problematic for its leaders, who are seeking to raise hundreds of millions of dollars to construct the building. In a 2026 budget document released in May, the Smithsonian describes the president's budget as 'eliminating funding for the development of the National Museum of the American Latino.' 'The Smithsonian has received federal appropriations for the National Museum of the American Latino for the past four years,' a spokesperson for the museum told the Miami Herald, noting that the president's budget 'does not include funding' for the institution. Why does Trump want to omit funding? The museum, approved with bipartisan support by Congress and Trump in 2020, was created with the goal to 'honor the dreams, challenges and triumphs of U.S. Latinos, elevating [their] stories within the national narrative,' according to its website Led by Jorge Zamanillo, former director of HistoryMiami, the museum does not yet have a location. Its leaders are still searching for as much as $800 million in funding reportedly needed to construct and fill a building. A White House official told the Herald that the lack of a location for the museum factored into the president's decision to omit funding in his proposed budget. The official also said President Joe Biden's final budget included no money for the planning and design of the museum. Trump, though, has been critical of the Smithsonian. In a March executive order, the president said the 'Smithsonian Institution has, in recent years, come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology,' describing it as part of a movement to recast U.S. history in a negative light. The order directed Trump's vice president, who is among the leaders on the Smithsonian's Board of Regents, to 'prohibit expenditure on exhibits or programs that degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with Federal law and policy.' The museum has also been the subject of criticism from conservative groups and Republican representatives. In a 2024 article, The Heritage Foundation publicly denounced the Latino museum, deeming it a 'woke indoctrination factory' and 'disgraceful.' 'Its aim is to teach the young and future generations to see themselves as victims of America, so they can destroy it from within,' wrote Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at the conservative think tank. In an X post Thursday morning, Alfonso Aguilar, conservative activist and former chief of the U.S. Office of Citizenship, said the Latino museum 'is being used to promote a 'woke, culturally Marxist' agenda. 'That's why #Trump is asking Congress to defund it,' Aguilar wrote. 'If Republicans really want to counter the woke agenda, they should comply with his request.' Miami Republicans have also been critical at times of the museum. Cuban-American U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart deemed an exhibition created by the museum and hosted in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History as 'patronizing' and 'quasi-racist' during a 2023 subcommittee hearing. Diaz-Balart worked at the time with House Republicans to push legislation forward to pull the museum's funding, though he backed off that effort after he said he had a productive meeting with Smithsonian representatives. What happens next? Congress sets the U.S. budget, not Trump. 'This is the first step of a very long appropriations process,' said the Latino museum spokesperson. Notably, Diaz-Balart serves on the U.S. House Committee on Appropriations, which is tasked with drafting legislation to allocate federal government funds. His office did not respond to a request seeking comment. Miami Congressman Carlos Giménez, a Cuban-American Republican who sits on the Smithsonian Board of Regents, also did not respond to a request for comment. 'I consider the museum something which I'd like to have, but it's not something I gotta have,' Gimenez told Roll Call. Meanwhile, some members of the House and Senate continue to push to create a space for the museum along the National Mall – the greenspace home to memorials and other museums east of the U.S. Capitol – and preserve financing for an institution that is supposed to highlight Latinos' influence on U.S. history. A Senate bill called the 'Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino Act,' led by California Democrat Alex Padilla and Texas Republican Ted Cruz, would allow the federal government 'to build a new Smithsonian museum on the National Mall that recognizes the accomplishments of Latinos,' according to a news release. The bill says museum leaders 'shall ensure that the exhibits and programs of the Museum accurately and comprehensively represent the varied cultures, histories, events, and values of Hispanic or Latino communities.'
The Hill
6 days ago
- Health
- The Hill
Biden's HHS Secretary condemns Trump admin: ‘This is how public health collapses'
Former Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra blasted the Trump administration's handling of public health since taking office, warning that its actions are a precursor of 'how public health collapses.' Writing on the social media platform X, Becerra, who's running for California governor, said, 'I've held back. Gave this administration a chance to settle in. But after this MAHA report fiasco, the vaccine rollbacks, and the silencing of public health experts—I'm done holding back. We have an obligation to speak up. And I will.' He cited the death of two children this year from measles, the MAHA report's citation of nonexistent studies and the 'gutting public health' as examples of how the Trump administration has failed to ensure public health. 'This is bigger than one bad report. They're muzzling researchers. Laying off experts. Erasing science. And telling pregnant women and parents that vaccines don't matter. This is how public health collapses,' wrote Becerra. 'We owe it to the people we serve—Democrat or Republican, urban or rural—to fight back with facts and protect the systems that keep our families safe,' he added. 'Silence isn't neutrality. It's surrender.' Since leaving HHS, Becerra hasn't been entirely silent in his criticisms of the Trump administration's actions. When HHS announced it would be cutting nearly a quarter of its staff, Becerra said, 'It's hard to make sense of the HHS cuts.' 'Who's going to inspect our nursing homes? Who's going to inspect for lead those imported toys that our kids put in their mouths,' he said at the time, adding it had 'the makings of a manmade disaster.' Apart from health policy, Becerra also went after President Trump following the release of his budget proposal, which would cut the planned National Museum of the American Latino. 'I first introduced legislation to create the National Museum of the American Latino over 20 years ago—because our stories matter,' Becerra said this week. 'Now Trump wants to kill it before it even has a building. You don't honor history by erasing it. You build it.'
USA Today
19-04-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Lawmakers push bipartisan bill to put the American Latino museum on the National Mall.
Lawmakers push bipartisan bill to put the American Latino museum on the National Mall. Bipartisan support for the National Museum of the American Latino endures, despite anti-DEI push. Show Caption Hide Caption Trump issues order forcing museums to remove 'improper ideology' President Donald Trump has issued an order attempting to force changes at the Smithsonian Institution, targeting funding for programs that advance 'divisive narratives' and 'improper ideology." Fox - 5 DC WASHINGTON ‒ In the midst of the Trump administration's efforts to roll back diversity initiatives, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators is pushing for a site on the National Mall for a museum focused on the American Latino experience. 'Latinos have been at the heart of U.S. history for hundreds of years, shaping American culture, communities and business,' Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, said in a statement. 'The story of the American Latino, and the simultaneous fight for equality by American women, should be enshrined on the National Mall, the tapestry of the United States.'' The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino Act proposed by Padilla and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, would locate the museum in one of the four remaining slots on the mall. Congress must pass legislation to approve a waiver to use that location. There is also bipartisan support for the Smithsonian American Women's History Museum Act to be located on the mall. That measure is led by Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, and Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyoming. Enthusiasm for the museums and their prominent location comes at the same time as the Trump administration's campaign to eliminate diversity initiatives at the Smithsonian, across the federal government and in the private sector. In a recent order, titled 'Restoring truth and sanity to American history," President Donald Trump complained the Smithsonian has 'come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology." It calls for Vice President JD Vance to join in a role with the Smithsonian Board of Regents to help map out new policies. Latino museum to spotlight history The Latino museum and other Smithsonian institutions have long received bipartisan support. Congress approved bipartisan legislation for the Latino museum in late 2020. Then-president Trump signed it into law during his first term. Two years later, the Smithsonian named the museum's first permanent director, Jorge Zamanillo, and unveiled a gallery dedicated to the U.S. Latino experience in the National Museum of American History. More: Trump sets sights on national African American history museum The Smithsonian Board of Regents recommended a site on the mall near the Tidal Basin. Juan Proaño, CEO of LULAC, said the Latino civil rights organization stands by efforts to put museums focused on the Latino experience and one on women's history on the National Mall. But Proaño is worried some lawmakers might try to stall the process. He called Trump's order and other, similar efforts, attempts at the 'whitewashing of our history, of African American History and Latino history, of contributions of indigenous communities from around the country. That is a big, big concern.' Proaño, activists and historians said the Smithsonian museums are integral parts of the nation's history and should not be allowed to be politicized. 'They would effectively try and implement some sort of DEI cleansing of our national institutions, which are the cornerstone of the history of this country,'' he said. Others are worried about the fate of the Smithsonian more broadly. Four Democrats on the House Administration Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Smithsonian Institution, wrote to Vance expressing concerns about Trump's executive order and his singling out Smithsonian museums, including the National Museum of African American History and Culture. 'This flagrant attempt to erase Black history is unacceptable and must be stopped,'' they wrote in the letter dated April 17, led by New York Rep. Joseph Morelle, the top Democrat on the committee. 'The attempt to paper over elements of American history is both cowardly and unpatriotic.'' Former Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Florida, who was a lead sponsor of the Latino museum legislation along with former Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-California, said support has always been bipartisan. 'It will take members from both sides of the aisle to come together and get this bill across the finish line,' she said in a statement.
