Tell Your Senators: Protect Community Voices and Historic Places
- by: National Trust for Historic Preservation
- recipient: Senate
On October 15, 1966, President Johnson signed the National Historic Preservation Act — a law he said was meant "to give part of our country back to its people." For sixty years it has done exactly that. Before a federally funded project damages a historic place, the people who live there get to be heard. The law hasn't stopped progress — it has made federal projects better, and it's why the Survivor Stairs still stand at the World Trade Center.
A permitting reform bill now before the Senate (S. 5653) would make much of that consultation optional. Agencies could end the conversation on their own. Fewer places would qualify for review, and fewer harms would count.
The National Trust opposes these provisions. We support more efficient and predictable federal permitting—but not at the cost of your voice.
Tell your Senators: Oppose the bill as written and demand meaningful changes to its historic preservation provisions.
A permitting reform bill now before the Senate (S. 5653) would make much of that consultation optional. Agencies could end the conversation on their own. Fewer places would qualify for review, and fewer harms would count.
The National Trust opposes these provisions. We support more efficient and predictable federal permitting—but not at the cost of your voice.
Tell your Senators: Oppose the bill as written and demand meaningful changes to its historic preservation provisions.
Dear [send:full_name],
This month marks sixty years since President Johnson signed the National Historic Preservation Act. I'm writing as your constituent to ask you to fix the historic preservation provisions in the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026 (S. 5653) before this bill advances. I support making federal permitting faster and more predictable, and I'm glad the bill increases authorized funding for the Historic Preservation Fund. But as drafted, these provisions would take away the right of communities like mine to be heard when a federally funded project threatens a historic place. In sixty years, this law has not blocked projects — it has made them better. It is why the Survivor Stairs were preserved at the World Trade Center site, and why communities from New Orleans to Richmond have had a say in federal decisions that reshaped them. Specifically, I'm asking you to:
1) Keep the requirement that agencies actually listen. Set clear deadlines, but require agencies to seek out and respond to what Tribal Nations, state preservation offices, local governments, and residents tell them.
2) Don't carve out whole categories of harm. Excluding effects on how a place looks, sounds, and feels — and excluding projects built with federal assistance — removes many significant historic places from review entirely.
3) Don't shrink the definitions. Rewriting what counts as "harm" and what counts as a "project" narrows this law without appearing to change it.
4) Don't let an agency close the door on its own. An agency that decides other priorities outweigh a historic place should have to say so on the record and explain why.
5) Keep the courts available. When an agency doesn't follow the law, communities need somewhere to turn.
6) Fund the people who have to meet the new deadlines. Faster reviews only work if state and Tribal preservation offices have the staff and training to keep up.
7) Protect Tribal consultation. Shorter timelines must not come at the cost of Tribal Nations' voice on places of religious and cultural importance.
Please work with your colleagues to fix these provisions before this bill moves forward.
[COMMENT]
Sincerely,
[First Name] [Last Name]
[City] [State] [Zip]
Sign PetitionSign PetitionThis month marks sixty years since President Johnson signed the National Historic Preservation Act. I'm writing as your constituent to ask you to fix the historic preservation provisions in the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026 (S. 5653) before this bill advances. I support making federal permitting faster and more predictable, and I'm glad the bill increases authorized funding for the Historic Preservation Fund. But as drafted, these provisions would take away the right of communities like mine to be heard when a federally funded project threatens a historic place. In sixty years, this law has not blocked projects — it has made them better. It is why the Survivor Stairs were preserved at the World Trade Center site, and why communities from New Orleans to Richmond have had a say in federal decisions that reshaped them. Specifically, I'm asking you to:
1) Keep the requirement that agencies actually listen. Set clear deadlines, but require agencies to seek out and respond to what Tribal Nations, state preservation offices, local governments, and residents tell them.
2) Don't carve out whole categories of harm. Excluding effects on how a place looks, sounds, and feels — and excluding projects built with federal assistance — removes many significant historic places from review entirely.
3) Don't shrink the definitions. Rewriting what counts as "harm" and what counts as a "project" narrows this law without appearing to change it.
4) Don't let an agency close the door on its own. An agency that decides other priorities outweigh a historic place should have to say so on the record and explain why.
5) Keep the courts available. When an agency doesn't follow the law, communities need somewhere to turn.
6) Fund the people who have to meet the new deadlines. Faster reviews only work if state and Tribal preservation offices have the staff and training to keep up.
7) Protect Tribal consultation. Shorter timelines must not come at the cost of Tribal Nations' voice on places of religious and cultural importance.
Please work with your colleagues to fix these provisions before this bill moves forward.
[COMMENT]
Sincerely,
[First Name] [Last Name]
[City] [State] [Zip]
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