{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.blunt.senate.gov/news/press-releases/photos-blunt-attends-ste-genevieve-national-historical-park-ceremony", "PHOTOS: Blunt Attends Ste. Genevieve National Historical Park Ceremony", "2020-11-02", "2020", "2020-11", "Republican", "House", "MO", "Roy Blunt", "B000575", "www.blunt.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Click Here for More Photos WASHINGTON \r\nToday, U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.) attended the ceremony celebrating the\r\nestablishment of the Ste.\r\nGenevieve National Historical Park, Missouri's first National Historical\r\nPark and the 422nd park to become part of the National Park System. Blunt\r\njoined Missouri State Representative Dale Wright, Missouri Department of\r\nNatural Resources Director Carol Comer, National Park Service Midwest Region\r\nDirector Bert Frost, and Ste. Genevieve National Historical Park Superintendent\r\nChris Collins in unveiling the official sign for the park. It was great to be back in Ste. Genevieve today to\r\ncelebrate Missouri's first National Historical Park and the newest addition to\r\nthe National Park System, said Blunt. This was an effort years in the making,\r\nand is another example of how we can leverage a successful public-private\r\npartnership model to make sure our nation's most important places are preserved\r\nfor generations to come. Every historic building in Ste. Genevieve has a story\r\nto tell and I'm incredibly grateful to all of the people in the community who\r\nhave dedicated their time and energy to telling those stories. I'm thrilled\r\nthat more Americans will now have the opportunity to come and experience this\r\nunique part of our history. BACKGROUND: Blunt helped lead efforts in Congress to establish the Ste.\r\nGenevieve National Historical Park. Blunt and U.S. Representative Jason Smith (Mo.) first introduced\r\nlegislation to establish the Ste. Genevieve National Historical Park and\r\ndesignate it as a unit of the National Park System in 2016. Blunt\r\ntestified before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on\r\nNational Parks in support of the legislation that year. Blunt and Smith reintroduced their bill in 2017 and it was subsequently\r\nsigned\r\ninto law in March 2018. Blunt met\r\nwith community leaders in Ste. Genevieve for a roundtable discussion and\r\ntoured the historic Amoureux House and Bequette-Ribault House in July 2018. The\r\nfollowing month, Blunt and Smith attended\r\na ceremonial signing of the cooperative agreements that ensure Ste. Genevieve\r\nhistoric properties are preserved. This marked the final statutory step needed\r\nto establish Ste. Genevieve as a national park. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Blunt\r\nannounced in February 2019 that the FY2019 funding bill included\r\ndedicated resources for new units in the National Park System, including the\r\nSte. Genevieve National Historical Park. In February 2019, Blunt successfully included\r\na measure in the Natural Resources Management Act to authorize the National\r\nPark Service to acquire land for a modern visitor center space at the Ste.\r\nGenevieve National Historical Park. At a Senate appropriations subcommittee hearing in May 2019,\r\nBlunt questioned\r\nSecretary Bernhardt about the agency's progress in acquiring historic\r\nproperties and a building for the visitors center at Ste. Genevieve National\r\nHistorical Park.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.blunt.senate.gov/news/press-releases/photos-blunt-attends-ste-genevieve-national-historical-park-ceremony"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9740870445966721, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}