Washington, D.C.--Sixth District Congressman Frank Lucas (R-OK) applauded his colleagues on the House Resources Committee today as they passed an amended version of H.R. 1849, the Oklahoma City National Memorial Act of 1997.

"I am ecstatic that this bill to establish a National Memorial at the sight of this domestic tragedy has moved so swiftly through the committee process today," Lucas said. "The thorough research and planning that went into this memorial's design and future management has made for a relatively smooth and accepting legislative process. I am hopeful that the bill will now move quickly to the floor of the House for a vote."

H.R. 1849 must be passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. Its differences with Senator Don Nickles bill, passed in the Senate, will be ironed out, approved by Congress, then sent to the President's desk, where he has indicated he would sign the bill.

"I am hopeful and confident that this will all take place before we break for the year in October or November," Lucas said.

The bill was considered in the House Resources Committee today and unanimously passed by the committee after the adoption of one amendment. The amendment was crafted by Bob Johnson, President of the Oklahoma City National Memorial Foundation with the assistance of Congressman Frank Lucas and the agreement of Senator Don Nickles and the majority and minority parties of the House Resources Committee.

"As with every step we have taken in the recovery stages of this tragedy, we are again treading new ground in the development of a National Memorial," Lucas said. "There has been no event like this in our nation's history, nor this sort of local effort put forth in the developing and maintaining of a national site.

"There is no national park now in existence that is run with the sort of unique partnership that will exist between the Oklahoma City National Memorial Foundation and the Secretary of the Department of the Interior, who oversees the National Park Service," Lucas continued. "But I am confident, as is the Oklahoma City Memorial Foundation, that this is a partnership that can work, and we look forward to working with the NPS in an effort to properly memorialize the act of domestic terrorism that took place in Oklahoma City in 1995."

"As originally intended, the bill calls for a comprehensive cooperative agreement between the Oklahoma City Memorial Foundation and the Secretary of the Department of the Interior," Lucas said. "The amendment to the bill adds more detailed language that should help further define the managing partnership," Lucas said.

The phrase 'cooperative agreement' is added throughout the bill, as well as a definition of that cooperative partnership: '...the Secretary and the Trust shall enter into a Cooperative Agreement pursuant to which the Secretary shall provide technical assistance for the planning, preservation, maintenance, management and interpretation of the Memorial. The Secretary also shall provide such maintenance, interpretation, curatorial management and general management as mutually agreed to by the Secretary and the Trust.'

"What we will have at the conclusion of this process, is a memorial, recognized nationally and internationally as a reminder of the lives lost, the lives saved, and the unbelievable caring nature of a state and a nation who heard a city=s cries for help," Lucas said. "It will stand forever to educate and remember what America is made of."

The Oklahoma City National Memorial Act of 1997 will establish a National Memorial at the site where the Alfred P. Murrah building once stood. The memorial will be an entity of the National Park Service and run in a partnership by the NPS and the Oklahoma City National Memorial Trust. The Trust will be created by this legislation and authorizes $5 million in federal funding for the $24 million memorial.