1. Background

2. Provisions of the bill

3. Congressional Budget Office report

4. Procedural history

5. Debate and discussion

6. See also

7. References

8. External links

The National Desert Storm and Desert Shield War Memorial Act ({{USBill|113|hr|503}}) is a bill that would authorize the National Desert Storm Memorial Association to establish a memorial to honor members of the armed forces who participated in Operation Desert Storm or Operation Desert Shield.^[1] The memorial would be located in Washington, D.C. and would not use federal funds.^[1]

The bill passed the United States House of Representatives during the 113th United States Congress.

The bill was incorporated into Howard P. "Buck" McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 and was enacted in December 2014.

Background

The Gulf War (2 August 1990 – 28 February 1991), codenamed Operation Desert Storm (17 January 1991 – 28 February 1991) was a war waged by coalition forces from 34 nations led by the United States against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.

The war is also known under other names, such as the Persian Gulf War, First Gulf War, Gulf War I, Kuwait War, or the First Iraq War,^[2][3][4] before the term "Iraq War" became identified instead with the 2003 Iraq War (also referred to in the U.S. as "Operation Iraqi Freedom").^[5]

Kuwait's invasion by Iraqi troops that began 2 August 1990 was met with international condemnation, and brought immediate economic sanctions against Iraq by members of the U.N. Security Council. U.S. President George H. W. Bush deployed U.S. forces into Saudi Arabia, and urged other countries to send their own forces to the scene. An array of nations joined the Coalition, the biggest coalition since World War II. The great majority of the Coalition's military forces were from the U.S., with Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and Egypt as leading contributors, in that order. Saudi Arabia paid around US$36 billion of the US$60 billion cost.^[6]

Operation Desert Shield was the codename for a "wholly defensive" United States mission to prevent Iraq from invading Saudi Arabia. Operation Desert Shield began on 7 August 1990 when U.S. troops were sent to Saudi Arabia due also to the request of its monarch, King Fahd, who had earlier called for U.S. military assistance.^[7] This "wholly defensive" doctrine was quickly abandoned when, on 8 August, Iraq declared Kuwait to be Iraq's 19th province and Saddam named his cousin, Ali Hassan Al-Majid, as its military-governor.^[8]

Approximately 500,000 Americans served in operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield.^[9] There were 382 American fatalities.^[9]

Provisions of the bill

The National Desert Storm and Desert Shield War Memorial Act would authorize the National Desert Storm Memorial Association to establish a commemorative work on federal land in the District of Columbia to commemorate and honor those who, as members of the Armed Forces, served on active duty in support of Operation Desert Storm or Operation Desert Shield.^[10]

The bill would prohibit the use of federal funds to pay any expense to establish the commemorative work.^[10]

The bill would require the Association, upon payment of all expenses for the memorial's establishment (including perpetual maintenance and preservation expenses), to transmit any remaining balance to the United States Secretary of the Interior for deposit in the separate account with the National Park Foundation (NPF) established for crediting money provided by a sponsor of a commemorative work.^[10]

The bill would require any remaining balance transmitted to the separate NPF account upon expiration of the authority to establish the commemorative work to be available to the Secretary or to the Administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA), as appropriate, following a specified process.^[10]

Congressional Budget Office report

H.R. 503 would authorize a nonprofit organization to establish a commemorative work on federal lands in the District of Columbia. Enacting the legislation would affect direct spending; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. However, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the net effect on the budget would not be significant in any year. Enacting H.R. 503 would not affect revenues.^[11]

The legislation would authorize the National Desert Storm Memorial Association to establish a memorial to honor members of the armed forces who participated in Operation Desert Storm or Operation Desert Shield. The memorial project, which would be completed without the use of federal funds, would be subject to the requirements of the Commemorative Works Act. Under that act, any entity that receives a permit to construct a memorial in the District of Columbia or its environs must donate to the National Park Foundation (a nonprofit organization) an amount equal to 10 percent of the memorial’s estimated construction cost. That amount, as well as any project funds remaining after construction of the memorial, would be available in future years for maintenance of the memorial.^[11]

Based on the experience of similar commemorative projects, CBO expects that any amounts collected by the federal government would not be received for several years and would be offset by a transfer to the National Park Foundation (a nonfederal entity) soon thereafter.^[11]

H.R. 503 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would not impose a cost on state, local, or tribal governments.^[11]

On January 24, 2014, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for {{USBill|113|S|995}}, the National Desert Storm and Desert Shield War Memorial Act, as ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on November 21, 2013. The two bills are similar and the CBO cost estimates are the same.^[11]

Procedural history

The National Desert Storm and Desert Shield War Memorial Act was introduced into the United States House of Representatives on February 5, 2014 by Rep. David P. Roe (R, TN-1).^[12] The bill was referred to the United States House Committee on Natural Resources and the United States House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation. The bill was reported (amended) by the committee on May 6, 2014 alongside House Report 113-437.^[12] On May 28, 2014, the House voted in Roll Call Vote 242 to pass the bill 370-0.^[12][13]

Debate and discussion

Rep. Roe, who introduced the bill, said "I believe we should honor the commitment of every man and woman that honorably serves this country, and I am proud to see this bill move forward."^[14]

See also

• List of bills in the 113th United States Congress

References

External links

• Library of Congress - Thomas H.R. 503
• beta.congress.gov H.R. 503
• [https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/hr503 GovTrack.us H.R. 503]
• OpenCongress.org H.R. 503
• WashingtonWatch.com H.R. 503
• Congressional Budget Office's report on H.R. 503
• House Report 113-437 on H.R. 503
• Official Website of the National Desert Storm War Memorial

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