Murkowski presses Interior on who's paying for Trump's Smithsonian signs

Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Jeff Merkley of Oregon, who lead the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, sent a letter Thursday to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum demanding to know who is paying for signage the National Park Service has been ordered to install outside the National Museum of American History, and how much it will cost.

A July 24 executive order, "Restoring Trust in the Smithsonian Institution," directs the Park Service to put up temporary signs and exhibits along the sidewalks near the museum. The signs are meant to promote a report called "Saving America's Story," which alleges ideological capture at the museum, and to point visitors toward other sources for what the order calls accurate history.

The senators asked how many signs there would be, where they would go, what they would cost, who is writing them, how long the "temporary" signs would stay up, and which Interior or Park Service accounts would pay. They also asked whether there is any precedent for using Park Service land or money to send a message conflicting with an outside institution's own work, and whether the agency would seek public feedback first.

"There is nothing more American than telling our story truthfully," they wrote.

The letter sets no deadline. Neither Interior nor the Park Service has publicly responded, and the Smithsonian has not commented.