Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) announced Tuesday that she has introduced legislation to establish memorials to the shuttle Columbia tragedy in four Texas towns. The memorials would be part of the National Park System, and the Secretary of the Interior would have the option to select additional memorial sites if desired. Hutchison introduced similar legislation last year (S.2014) but the bill never got out of committee. The major difference between the two is that the new version doesn’t set a specific funding level for the memorials, while the old version authorized $5 million. Hutchison said in her press release that leaving the funding decision to the Senate Appropriations Committee “could increase the chances of Senate passage.” Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) is a co-sponsor of the bill.
The proper place for the Columbia memorial park is on Mars.