Congress preserves World War II refugee shelter as national historical park
H.R. 1031 — Fort Ontario Holocaust Refugee Shelter National Historical Park Establishment Act · Filed by Claudia Tenney (R-NY) · 8 cosponsors · Introduced Feb 5, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill establishes Fort Ontario Holocaust Refugee Shelter National Historical Park in Oswego, New York as a unit of the National Park System to preserve and interpret the history of 982 World War II refugees housed there from 1944–1946. The Secretary of the Interior will acquire land, develop a management plan, and may partner with state and private entities to provide public access and educational programming at the site.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is the establishment of a National Historical Park unit to preserve and interpret a specific World War II refugee shelter site. It is a straightforward commemorative and educational measure with no deregulatory, tax, or subsidy components.
What the text implies
- Long-term federal operating costs for the park are not specified in the bill; appropriations will be required annually for staffing, maintenance, and interpretation, creating an open-ended fiscal commitment.
- The bill conditions establishment on the Secretary acquiring 'a sufficient quantity of land' but does not define 'sufficient' or set a minimum acreage, leaving discretion to the executive branch.
- Cooperative agreements with private entities to interpret or restore resources on non-Federal land within or near the park boundary may create ongoing entanglement between NPS and private parties whose interests may diverge from public education goals.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill establishes a public historical site preserving an important but underrecognized chapter of American refugee policy and World War II history, providing free or low-cost public access to education and commemoration. No restrictions on citizen rights, no private giveaways, and no hidden costs to the public are apparent.
Named in the bill
Fort Ontario, Oswego, New York, National Park Service, Secretary of the Interior, State of New York
Where it stands
8 cosponsors: 6 Republicans, 2 Democrats.
- Feb 5, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Feb 5, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 3 disclosure filings across 3 quarters, Sep 2025 to Mar 2026. Those filings disclosed $210,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 2 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Claudia Tenney, the sponsor, reported $1,189,908 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Elekta, Inc. — $210,000 on 3 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jun 29, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (3,979 characters) on May 21, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Sep 2025 to Mar 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jun 29, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Congress preserves World War II refugee shelter as national historical park” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr1031 Report an error
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