Washington, D.C.--Sixth District U.S. Congressman Frank Lucas applauded President Clinton's signing of the legislation which includes $250 thousand in federal funding that has been earmarked by the President for the Washita Battlefield National Historic Site west of Cheyenne, Oklahoma. The bill was signed over the weekend on Saturday. Previously it was passed in the U.S. House on October 24 and in the U.S. Senate on October 28.

"The signing of this legislation is the icing on the cake for the park this year," Lucas said. "Having just celebrated the transfer of the Washita land from the state to the National Park Service, we are really making progress on the development of Oklahoma's first national park.

This legislation appropriates the federal budget for fiscal year 1998 for the National Park Service (NPS). The President's budget specifies that $250 thousand of that budget be used as the base operating budget for the Washita Battlefield National Historic Site in FY98.

"There are quite a few steps left before every last detail is implemented--or for that matter, even developed," Lucas said. "However, we now have the operating budget to get things moving, figure out what we have and how to present it.