A majority of members of the House of Representatives Thursday voted in favor of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park Act, H.R. 5987. However, the bill failed to receive the two-thirds majority necessary to pass under suspension of House rules.
The vote on the Manhattan Project National Historical Park Act was 237-180, about 50 votes short of a two-thirds supermajority, said Cindy Kelly, president of the nonprofit Atomic Heritage Foundation.
H.R. 5987 establishes a Manhattan Project National Historical Park with one of the sites being Los Alamos.
While the bill did not pass on the House floor today under suspension of House rules, the final vote of 237-180 met the test for a simple majority vote.
Chairman Doc Hastings, who introduced the legislation, was quoted in the Oak Ridge, Tenn. newspaper as saying, “we’ve shown there is support for this park and will be working toward the goal of enacting this into law before the end of this year."
On Thursday Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), who has been a critic of the bill, called for a roll call rather than let the bill pass by a simple voice vote.