Bill stops the National Archives from closing record centers.
S. 5632 — National Archives Protection Act · Filed by Richard Durbin (D-IL) · 3 cosponsors · Introduced Sep 30, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
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What it does
The bill bars the National Archivist from closing any federal records center or archive that exists now. The Archivist cannot fix up or rebuild these places. Moving records for more than 180 days is not allowed. The bill keeps the current network of places where people can see federal records.
Who it affects
People who want to read federal records can keep using the same centers and archives. The federal government must keep running these places. They must do this even if the places are old or expensive.
One thing to notice
The bill does not say who will pay to keep these buildings running. It does not say what counts as a reasonable limit on visiting.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
3 cosponsors: 3 Democrats.
- Sep 30, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Sep 30, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- National Archivist — The federal official who runs the National Archives and manages government records.
- federal records center — A building where the federal government stores old papers and files for public access.
- archive — A place that keeps old documents and records safe for people to read.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (656 characters) on Oct 16, 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.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Bill stops the National Archives from closing record centers.” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s5632/simple Report an error
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