{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://gutierrez.house.gov/press-release/rep-guti%C3%A9rrez-praises-15-million-auschwitz-birkenau-foundation-pledge-authorized-", "REP. GUTIRREZ PRAISES $15 MILLION AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU FOUNDATION PLEDGE AUTHORIZED IN CROMNIBUS SPENDING MEASURE", "2014-12-22", "2014", "2014-12", "Democrat", "House", "IL", "Luis Guti\u00e9rrez", "G000535", "gutierrez.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "\u201cRemembering is the only way to \u2018never forget,\u2019\u201d Rep. Guti\u00e9rrez says of delayed 2010 appropriation.\u00a0 \u201cIt should have happened a long time ago, but I am pleased it is happening now.\u201d \n\u00a0\nWashington, DC \u2013 Buried in the \u201cCromnibus\u201d budget bill (HR 83), Congressman Luis V. Guti\u00e9rrez (D-IL) scored a legislative victory by securing language to authorize payment of $15 million the Department of State pledged to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation almost five years ago (https://1.usa.gov/1w3uHk9).\nAt the urging of Rep. Guti\u00e9rrez and dozens of other Congressional Representatives, the United States made a pledge to support the endowment of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, preserving the site of the Nazi death camp in Poland as a reminder to the world.\u00a0 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton responded in 2010 by pledging $15 million to the international effort and that money was appropriated by Congress and given to the State Department starting in 2010, but it was never transferred to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation endowment because State did not feel it had the necessary authorization from Congress to make a grant to an endowment that would then fund preservation for future generations.\u00a0\n\u201cThis month marks 70 years since the beginning of World War II,\u201d Rep. Guti\u00e9rrez said in September 2009, when he first started urging Congress and the State Department to fund Auschwitz-Birkenau preservation (https://1.usa.gov/1z9tfnj).\u00a0 \u201cAnd while time is taking its toll on this rapidly deteriorating historic site, it has not diminished violent ideologies of anti-Semitism and racism that still run rampant today.\u201d\nRep. Guti\u00e9rrez was part of a delegation that visited the Auschwitz camp in August 2009 and wrote the President (LINK) and Secretary of State (LINK) urging them to prioritize funding for the international remembrance effort.\u00a0\n\u201cThe only way we can work toward the eradication of these painful and dangerous mentalities is to preserve, remember and teach others about the atrocities of the past. The United States must be a leader in the fight against hatred and bigotry by safeguarding an honest record of history, so that future generations may learn from it,\u201d Guti\u00e9rrez said at the September 17, 2009, Capitol Hill press conference he called to release the letter to Secretary Clinton signed by 45 of his colleagues (https://1.usa.gov/1z9tfnj).\nTwenty-eight nations pledged $160 million to the effort, but as of this year, the United States was the only country not to have actually made good on its pledge.\u00a0 Until now.\nQuietly and mostly behind the scenes, Rep. Guti\u00e9rrez met with Members of Congress in leadership and with the committees of jurisdiction, asking them to insert the necessary language to authorize the funds and therefore empower the State Department to transfer the money.\u00a0 This included a sign-on letter to the House Appropriations Committee in 2014 signed 44 Republicans and Democrats (LINK) and an appeal was made directly to then-Majority Leader Eric Cantor, also in 2014 (LINK).\n\u201cThere was never any ill-will or resistance to fully fund Secretary Clinton\u2019s 2010 pledge,\u201d Rep. Guti\u00e9rrez said.\u00a0 \u201cBut there were bureaucratic and political roadblocks that delayed the process.\u00a0 Congress has been funding the government from emergency to emergency to emergency with these short-term Continuing Resolutions to avoid government shutdowns, not budgeting to enact sensible or forward-looking policies\u2013 or addressing bureaucratic blockages like the $15 million pledge to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation. \u00a0It is a byproduct of the partisan bickering and the hardline approach of the conservatives who run this place.\u00a0 So good policies \u2013 even funding that everyone agrees is a good idea \u2013 gets sidetracked.\u201d\nThe \u201cCromnibus\u201d bill that passed the House on December 11, 2014, was called a \u201cCromnibus\u201d because it combined an \u201cOmnibus\u201d bill funding almost all of the government through the end of the Fiscal Year (September 30, 2015) with a \u201cContinuing Resolution\u201d or \u201cCR,\u201d to fund the Department of Homeland Security at current levels only through February 27, 2015.\u00a0 The Republican majority, prodded by the contingent that strongly opposes immigration \u2013 and especially the President\u2019s recently announced executive actions on immigration \u2013 insisted that Homeland Security be treated separately and temporarily.\u00a0 It was for this reason -- along with a few other last minute policy changes \u2013 that Rep. Guti\u00e9rrez opposed (https://1.usa.gov/1wnLcg1) the \u201cCromnibus\u201d bill and voted against its passage.\n\u201cI don\u2019t think Republicans should play games with national security just to make the anti-immigration wing of the GOP happy, but Members of Congress face these challenges all the time,\u201d Rep. Guti\u00e9rrez said.\u00a0 \u201cI had to vote against the bill even though it finally fixed the Auschwitz-Birkenau preservation funding issue and I am relieved that the money will finally reach its destination.\u00a0 It should have happened a long time ago, but I am pleased it is happening now.\u201d\nThe U.S. funds pledged to the endowment for Auschwitz-Birkenau are expected to be transferred in early 2015, hopefully in time for the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camp that will be commemorated on January 27, 2015.\n\u201cWhen I visited Poland and the Auschwitz-Birkenau site in 2009, I was deeply moved and it was clear that this location, where so much brutal history and inhumanity took place, must be preserved for everyone to see and feel,\u201d Rep. Guti\u00e9rrez said.\u00a0 \u201cThe site cannot be allowed to disappear because it should be seared into the consciousness and conscience of every generation.\u00a0 It is more than a memorial to millions of innocent lives.\u00a0 It is a touchstone for avoiding genocide, injustice, and war.\u00a0 Remembering is the only way to \u2018never forget.\u2019\u201d\nRep. Luis V. Guti\u00e9rrez represents the Fourth District of Illinois, is a Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, is a Member of the Judiciary Committee and the Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security, and is the Chairman of the Immigration Task Force of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.\u00a0 He has temporarily given up his seniority on the House Committee on Financial Services in order to serve on Judiciary.\n\u00a0\nBackground Materials and Links\n\u00a0\nPress Release: Guti\u00e9rrez Calls on President, Secretary of State to Step-Up U.S. Participation in Holocaust Remembrance\nAug 13, 2009 - Office of Rep. Luis V. Guti\u00e9rrez\nhttps://gutierrez.house.gov/press-release/Guti%C3%A9rrez-calls-president-secretary-state-step-us-participation-holocaust-remembrance\nLetter from 45 Members of Congress to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton\nSeptember 16, 2009\u2013 Office of Rep. Luis V. Guti\u00e9rrez\nLINK\nLetter from 45 Members of Congress to President Barack Obama\nSeptember 16, 2009\u2013 Office of Rep. Luis V. Guti\u00e9rrez\nLINK\nPress Release: 45 Members of Congress to Call on Secretary of State to Step-Up U.S. Participation in Holocaust Remembrance\nSep 16, 2009 \u2013 Office of Rep. Luis V. Guti\u00e9rrez\nhttps://gutierrez.house.gov/press-release/45-members-congress-call-secretary-state-step-us-participation-holocaust-remembrance\nPress Release: U.S. State Department's $15 Million Contribution to Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation in Poland Helps Make \"Never Again\" A Reality\nAugust 11, 2010 \u2013 Office of Rep. Luis V. Guti\u00e9rrez\nhttps://Guti\u00e9rrez.house.gov/press-release/us-state-departments-15-million-contribution-auschwitz-birkenau-foundation-poland\nChicago Sun-Times: Guti\u00e9rrez, Quigley, Schakowsky to mark Auschwitz-Birkenau grant at Illinois Holocaust Museum ceremony\nAugust 10, 2010 \u2013 Lynn Sweet\nhttps://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2010/08/Guti\u00e9rrez_quigley_schakowsky_t.html\nJewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles: Congressman pledges to end delay to U.S. gift for Auschwitz-Birkenau preservation\nDecember 26, 2013 - by Jonah Lowenfeld\nhttps://www.jewishjournal.com/bloggish/item/congressman_pledges_to_end_delay_to_u.s._gift_for_auschwitz_birkenau_preser\nLetter from Rep. Guti\u00e9rrez to Majority Leader Eric Cantor (Not Previously Released)\nJanuary 24, 2014\u2013 Office of Rep. Luis V. Guti\u00e9rrez\nLINK\nBipartisan Letter from Rep. Guti\u00e9rrez and 43 House Members to House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs requesting inclusion of authorizing language in FY15 appropriations bill (Not Previously Released)\nApril 4, 2014 \u2013 Office of Rep. Luis V. Guti\u00e9rrez\nLINK\nOrange County Register: Rep. Issa joins effort to fulfill $15 million pledge to Auschwitz\nJanuary 31, 2014 \u2013 by Matthew Fleming\nhttps://www.ocregister.com/articles/issa-599818-million-birkenau.html\nPress Release: Rep. Gutierrez Urges Colleagues to Vote Against Spending Measure\nDecember 11, 2014 \u2013 Office of Rep. Luis V. Guti\u00e9rrez\nhttps://gutierrez.house.gov/press-release/rep-guti%C3%A9rrez-urges-colleagues-vote-against-spending-measure\nAuthorizing language for U.S. contribution to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation for preservation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp\nSec. 7034 (e)(2) of H.R. 83 \u2013 Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015:\n(2) Funds appropriated by this Act and prior Acts making\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0appropriations for the Department of State, foreign operations,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and related programs under the heading ``Economic Support\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Fund'' may be made available as a contribution to establish and\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0maintain memorial sites of genocide, subject to the regular\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0notification procedures of the Committees on Appropriations.\n\u00a0\n# # #", 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": ["http://gutierrez.house.gov/press-release/rep-guti%C3%A9rrez-praises-15-million-auschwitz-birkenau-foundation-pledge-authorized-"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6321409493684769, "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"}