A new bill would make it against the law for the Smithsonian Institution to peddle wokeness and “divisive narratives,” its sponsor said Tuesday in a bid to solidify President Trump’s executive order.
The proposed “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History Act,” introduced by Indiana GOP Sen. Jim Banks, directs the Smithsonian to root out “improper ideology” from its premier national network of major museums.
“It’s time to stop letting activists rewrite our past,” Banks said in a statement to The Post. “This bill puts President Trump’s order into law to ensure our national museums celebrate our values, our heroes, and what makes America great.”
The bill further prohibits future Smithsonian projects that “degrade shared American values” and pushes for the reinstatement of National Park Service-backed memorials, statues and monuments that were taken down or altered because of ideological reasons.
Banks, who founded the Anti-Woke Caucus during his time in the House, largely pulled from the text of Trump’s eponymous executive order back in March to root out “anti-American” ideology at Smithsonian museums.
That executive order was meant to strike back at years of pressure from lefty forces to pursue racial justice at historical institutions and undercut celebrated American figures who took actions that would be considered egregious by modern standards.
In 2020, for example, the National Museum of African American History and Culture infamously released a graphic claiming that “objective, rational, linear thinking,” “quantitative emphasis” and “hard work before play” are white qualities.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture is a Smithsonian Institution museum located on the National Mall.
Banks specifically singled out recent efforts by the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum to spotlight transgender female athletes.
His bill stipulates that the museum can’t “recognize men as women in any respect.”
Similar to Trump’s March executive order, the bill requires the Smithsonian Board of Regents, which administers the network of museums, to root out “improper ideology” in them.
Vice President JD Vance, who is on the board, is tasked with helping to enforce that policy.
The Smithsonian did not respond to a Post request for comment.
Trump has also publicly been critical of campaigns to take down or eliminate Confederate statues and monuments across the country.
Over the weekend, the president caused a stir by publicly criticizing the Washington Commanders and Cleveland Guardians for changing their names years ago from the Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians, respectively.
“Times are different now than they were three or four years ago,” Trump recently proclaimed on Truth Social. “We are a Country of passion and common sense.”
Banks’ bill comes against the backdrop of a broader effort by Republicans in Congress to codify as many of Trump’s executive orders as possible.
The senator was first sworn into the upper chamber in January. He previously helmed the House Republican Study Committee.
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