Megabill includes $40M for Trump's 'Garden of Heroes': Who would be in it?
President Trump first called for the statue garden in 2020 and revived the plans earlier this year.
(NEXSTAR) — Within the several hundreds of pages of the megabill the House is expected to pass on Thursday are a $6,000 tax deduction for seniors, no taxes on tips or overtime pay, big changes to student loans, massive Medicaid cuts, and numerous other provisions.
That includes appropriating $40 million for a "Garden of Heroes" to help celebrate America's upcoming 250th birthday.
What is the 'Garden of Heroes?'
Earlier this year, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to revive plans he outlined during his first term to have a "National Garden of American Heroes" built.
Under his 2020 executive order, Trump called for the statue garden to be opened by the U.S.'s 250th birthday on July 4, 2026. During a speech at Mount Rushmore in July 2020, Trump suggested that his decision to sign the order came in response to what he described as “cancel culture” by “angry mobs” looking to “wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values, and indoctrinate our children.”
These remarks came only months after the killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis. At the time, several monuments or statues across the country had become the target of attacks, especially those that honored figures who themselves had supported slavery.
The project never received funding from Congress, however, and the plans were ultimately squashed by then-President Joe Biden in 2021.
Shortly after returning to office in January, Trump reinstated the plans and called for it to be executed “as expeditiously as possible.”
What would the 'Garden of Heroes' look like, and where would it be?
Trump's first executive order about the garden called for "lifelike or realistic statues," with the possibility of those being donated or loaned "by States, localities, civic organizations, businesses, religious organizations, and individuals,” though the statues may also be commissioned.
According to a commission application by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the life-size statues are to be "made of marble, granite, bronze, copper, or brass." The listing, which has since closed, award recipients could receive $200,000 per statue, up to $600,000.
A location for the Garden of Heroes hasn't been released but Trump's initial order said it should be "of natural beauty" near a major population center. South Dakota Governor Larry Rhoden proposed "a location in the Black Hills in [sight] of Mount Rushmore" for the National Garden of American Heroes.
Who would be honored in the 'Garden of Heroes?'
Neither Trump's executive order nor the current version of the megabill outlines exactly who would receive statues in the proposed Garden of Heroes.
The order Trump signed in 2020 does, however, list 244 possible names:
Ansel Adams Herbert Henry Dow Barbara Jordan Norman Rockwell John Adams Katharine Drexel Chief Joseph Caesar Rodney Samuel Adams Peter Drucker Elia Kazan Eleanor Roosevelt Muhammad Ali Amelia Earhart Helen Keller Franklin D. Roosevelt Luis Walter Alvarez Thomas Edison John F. Kennedy Theodore Roosevelt Susan B. Anthony Jonathan Edwards Francis Scott Key Betsy Ross Hannah Arendt Albert Einstein Coretta Scott King Babe Ruth Louis Armstrong Dwight D. Eisenhower Martin Luther King, Jr. Sacagawea Neil Armstrong Duke Ellington Russell Kirk Jonas Salk Crispus Attucks Ralph Waldo Emerson Jeane Kirkpatrick John Singer Sargent John James Audubon Medgar Evers Henry Knox Antonin Scalia Lauren Bacall David Farragut Tadeusz Kościuszko Norman Schwarzkopf Clara Barton The Marquis de La Fayette Harper Lee Junípero Serra Todd Beamer Mary Fields Pierre Charles L’Enfant Elizabeth Ann Seton Alexander Graham Bell Henry Ford Meriwether Lewis Robert Gould Shaw Roy Benavidez George Fox Abraham Lincoln Fulton Sheen Ingrid Bergman Aretha Franklin Vince Lombardi Alan Shepard Irving Berlin Benjamin Franklin Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Frank Sinatra Humphrey Bogart Milton Friedman Clare Boothe Luce Margaret Chase Smith Daniel Boone Robert Frost Douglas MacArthur Bessie Smith Norman Borlaug Gabby Gabreski Dolley Madison Elizabeth Cady Stanton William Bradford Bernardo de Gálvez James Madison Jimmy Stewart Herb Brooks Lou Gehrig George Marshall Harriet Beecher Stowe Kobe Bryant Theodor Seuss Geisel Thurgood Marshall Gilbert Stuart William F. Buckley, Jr. Cass Gilbert William Mayo Anne Sullivan Sitting Bull Ruth Bader Ginsburg Christa McAuliffe William Howard Taft Frank Capra John Glenn William McKinley Maria Tallchief Andrew Carnegie Barry Goldwater Louise McManus Maxwell Taylor Charles Carroll Samuel Gompers Herman Melville Tecumseh John Carroll Alexander Goode Thomas Merton Kateri Tekakwitha George Washington Carver Carl Gorman George P. Mitchell Shirley Temple Johnny Cash Billy Graham Maria Mitchell Nikola Tesla Joshua Chamberlain Ulysses S. Grant William “Billy” Mitchell Jefferson Thomas Whittaker Chambers Nellie Gray Samuel Morse Henry David Thoreau Johnny “Appleseed” Chapman Nathanael Greene Lucretia Mott Jim Thorpe Ray Charles Woody Guthrie John Muir Augustus Tolton Julia Child Nathan Hale Audie Murphy Alex Trebek Gordon Chung-Hoon William Frederick “Bull” Halsey, Jr. Edward Murrow Harry S. Truman William Clark Alexander Hamilton John Neumann Sojourner Truth Henry Clay Ira Hayes Annie Oakley Harriet Tubman Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) Hans Christian Heg Jesse Owens Dorothy Vaughan Roberto Clemente Ernest Hemingway Rosa Parks C. T. Vivian Grover Cleveland Patrick Henry George S. Patton, Jr. John von Neumann Red Cloud Charlton Heston Charles Willson Peale Thomas Ustick Walter William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody Alfred Hitchcock William Penn Sam Walton Nat King Cole Billie Holiday Oliver Hazard Perry Booker T. Washington Samuel Colt Bob Hope John J. Pershing George Washington Christopher Columbus Johns Hopkins Edgar Allan Poe John Washington Calvin Coolidge Grace Hopper Clark Poling John Wayne James Fenimore Cooper Sam Houston John Russell Pope Ida B. Wells-Barnett Davy Crockett Whitney Houston Elvis Presley Phillis Wheatley Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. Julia Ward Howe Jeannette Rankin Walt Whitman Miles Davis Edwin Hubble Ronald Reagan Laura Ingalls Wilder Dorothy Day Daniel Inouye Walter Reed Roger Williams Joseph H. De Castro Andrew Jackson William Rehnquist John Winthrop Emily Dickinson Robert H. Jackson Paul Revere Frank Lloyd Wright Walt Disney Mary Jackson Henry Hobson Richardson Orville Wright William “Wild Bill” Donovan John Jay Hyman Rickover Wilbur Wright Jimmy Doolittle Thomas Jefferson Sally Ride Alvin C. York Desmond Doss Steve Jobs Matthew Ridgway Cy Young Frederick Douglass Katherine Johnson Jackie Robinson Lorenzo de Zavala
Speaking with the Washington Post after the list was revealed, James Grossman, the executive director of the American Historical Association, described some of the inclusions as “odd,” “probably inappropriate” and “provocative.”
New York Daily News reporter Chris Sommerfeldt also pointed out that Woody Guthrie, a suggested honoree, once wrote lyrics for a song called “Old Man Trump” which was about — and critical of — Trump’s father, Fred Trump, accusing him of stirring up “racial hate,” per lyrics published by the Woody Guthrie Center.
How much will the 'Garden of Heroes' cost?
While the megabill that passed through the Senate and awaits final passage in the House appropriates $40 million, the NEH and the National Endowment for the Arts have committed a combined $34 million to create the statue garden.
Will Trump's megabill pass?
Despite House Minority Speaker Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) turning his "magic minute" into remarks lasting more than seven hours on Thursday, Trump's "big, beautiful bill" is expected to pass through the House and reach the president's desk.
It has a narrow margin — Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) can lose only three votes, assuming all members are present for the final vote — but the bill is still expected to pass.
The outcome would be a milestone for the president and his party, a longshot effort to compile a long list of GOP priorities into what they call his “one big beautiful bill,” an 800-plus page package. With Democrats unified in opposition, the bill will become a defining measure of Trump’s return to the White House, with the sweep of Republican control of Congress.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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