{"id":674,"date":"2026-07-22T18:41:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T18:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=674"},"modified":"2026-07-22T18:41:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T18:41:07","slug":"fight-at-the-museum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=674","title":{"rendered":"Fight at the museum\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Lawmakers went for a Smithsonian sequel this week, as a top museum official and a nearly identical group of witnesses appeared for their second congressional hearing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Republicans: Time is not on your side<\/a><\/p>\n

Republicans have thrust the National Museum of American History into the spotlight and accused it of rewriting history two days in a row, first at the House Oversight Delivering on Government Efficiency Subcommittee on Tuesday, and then at the House Administration Committee on Wednesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe museum does not take sides in America\u2019s political debates,\u201d the museum\u2019s director, Anthea M. Hartig, said at Wednesday\u2019s hearing.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Complaining of \u201cwoke\u201d ideology at the museum, Republicans closely echoed a released earlier this month by the White House Domestic Policy Council as President Donald Trump looks to shape the content of America\u2019s cultural institutions. Meanwhile, Democrats on the House Administration panel pointed to their own report, a they issued this week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have seen this before. The Soviet Union airbrushed, purged officials out of photographs until they vanished. The Tiananmen Square massacre appears nowhere in Chinese textbooks and is scrubbed from its internet,\u201d said House Administration ranking member Joseph D. Morelle, D-N.Y., arguing the president shouldn\u2019t try to dictate what appears in museums.<\/p>\n

Wednesday\u2019s hearing provided fewer viral moments than the one day before, though Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., brought a similar colorful poster to highlight museum content she found sexually explicit, like an exhibit featuring the drag queen RuPaul.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unacceptable that American tax dollars are supporting divisive work,\u201d House Administration Chair Bryan Steil, R-Wis., said at the hearing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Tick bites snag Congress\u2019 attention as red meat allergies rise<\/a><\/p>\n

Hartig, a historian who has served as the American history museum\u2019s director since 2019 and is the first woman to hold the position, once again fielded questions about what role political activism and social justice should play in the Smithsonian and her own political views.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, doubled down on his calls from Tuesday for new leadership at the Smithsonian and urged Congress to \u201cdeauthorize\u201d a new museum honoring Latinos that it has already approved.<\/p>\n

According to an aide familiar with the planning, the DOGE subpanel, which is chaired by Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., did not coordinate its hearing with the House Administration Committee. The latter panel has jurisdiction when it comes to oversight of the Smithsonian and last held an oversight hearing with Secretary Lonnie Bunch in 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew when this report came out that we were planning to do a hearing,\u201d Steil said in an interview, referring to the \u201cSaving America\u2019s Story\u201d report issued by the White House. \u201cI think it\u2019s actually great that Tim Burchett held his hearing. I thought that many members of the committee on Oversight actually did a great job highlighting some of the challenges that exist at the Smithsonian.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Steil said that he last visited the National Museum of American History \u201ca handful\u201d of months ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cBroadly, there\u2019s very good things in the Smithsonian. It\u2019s not to say that everything in the Smithsonian is bad, but I think that there\u2019s clearly a lack of proper oversight occurring at the Smithsonian,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Funding extension passes House, heads for Senate rewrite<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lawmakers went for a Smithsonian sequel this week, as a top museum official and a nearly identical group of witnesses appeared for their second congressional hearing.  Republicans have thrust the National Museum of American History into the spotlight and accused it of rewriting history two days in a row, first at the House Oversight Delivering […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":673,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress"],"yoast_head":"\nFight at the museum\u00a0 - American Industry Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=674\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fight at the museum\u00a0 - American Industry Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lawmakers went for a Smithsonian sequel this week, as a top museum official and a nearly identical group of witnesses appeared for their second congressional hearing.  Republicans have thrust the National Museum of American History into the spotlight and accused it of rewriting history two days in a row, first at the House Oversight Delivering […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=674\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Industry Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-22T18:41:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=674#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=674\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f31b66192ea99275704b1c4c1195d2bd\"},\"headline\":\"Fight at the museum\u00a0\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-22T18:41:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=674\"},\"wordCount\":556,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=674#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/eff93f1489dca96b859035531a3a177f.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Congress\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=674#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=674\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=674\",\"name\":\"Fight at the museum\u00a0 - American Industry Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=674#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=674#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/eff93f1489dca96b859035531a3a177f.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-22T18:41:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f31b66192ea99275704b1c4c1195d2bd\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=674#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=674\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=674#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/eff93f1489dca96b859035531a3a177f.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/eff93f1489dca96b859035531a3a177f.jpg\",\"width\":1620,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"UNITED STATES - JULY 22: Anthea Hartig, director of the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of American History, prepares to testify during the House Administration Committee hearing on \u201cOversight of the Smithsonian: Radical Revisionism at the National Museum of American History\u201d in the Longworth House Office Building on Wednesday, July 22, 2026.(Bill Clark\\\/CQ Roll Call)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=674#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Fight at the museum\u00a0\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"American Industry Review\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f31b66192ea99275704b1c4c1195d2bd\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Fight at the museum\u00a0 - American Industry Review","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=674","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Fight at the museum\u00a0 - American Industry Review","og_description":"Lawmakers went for a Smithsonian sequel this week, as a top museum official and a nearly identical group of witnesses appeared for their second congressional hearing.  Republicans have thrust the National Museum of American History into the spotlight and accused it of rewriting history two days in a row, first at the House Oversight Delivering […]","og_url":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=674","og_site_name":"American Industry Review","article_published_time":"2026-07-22T18:41:07+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=674#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=674"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f31b66192ea99275704b1c4c1195d2bd"},"headline":"Fight at the museum\u00a0","datePublished":"2026-07-22T18:41:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=674"},"wordCount":556,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=674#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/eff93f1489dca96b859035531a3a177f.jpg","articleSection":["Congress"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=674#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=674","url":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=674","name":"Fight at the museum\u00a0 - American Industry Review","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=674#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=674#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/eff93f1489dca96b859035531a3a177f.jpg","datePublished":"2026-07-22T18:41:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f31b66192ea99275704b1c4c1195d2bd"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=674#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=674"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=674#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/eff93f1489dca96b859035531a3a177f.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/eff93f1489dca96b859035531a3a177f.jpg","width":1620,"height":1080,"caption":"UNITED STATES - JULY 22: Anthea Hartig, director of the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of American History, prepares to testify during the House Administration Committee hearing on \u201cOversight of the Smithsonian: Radical Revisionism at the National Museum of American History\u201d in the Longworth House Office Building on Wednesday, July 22, 2026.(Bill Clark\/CQ Roll Call)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=674#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Fight at the museum\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/","name":"American Industry Review","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f31b66192ea99275704b1c4c1195d2bd","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/americanindustryreview.com"],"url":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}