Sen.Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, is splitting from the majority of Republicans on the GOP's pushback against the Smithsonian Institution's teaching of American history.The moderate Republican senator sent a letter to the Trump administration alongside Sen.
Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., asking for more information on President Donald Trump's directive to install "temporary signage" outside the National Museum of American History, after he accused the museum of teaching historical accounts with an inaccurate and hyper-partisan lens."As Chair and Ranking Member of the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, we write to express our concern and to request more information regarding the role the Department of the Interior (DOI) will have in implementing Executive Order (EO) 14416, ‘Restoring Trust in the Smithsonian Institution,’" the letter said.TRUMP ORDERS SIGNS OUTSIDE SMITHSONIAN MUSEUM AMID ROW OVER ITS DEPICTION OF AMERICAN HISTORYSen.Lisa Murkowski is questioning Donald Trump's executive order directing temporary signage outside the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.
(Getty Images)Republicans have heaped scrutiny on the Smithsonian Institution, which gets roughly $1 billion in taxpayer dollars from Congress annually, for exhibits that the GOP has argued are inherently political.But Murkowski appeared to refute that in her bipartisan letter, writing to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, "For the past 180 years, the Smithsonian Institution has been committed to sharing objective historical evidence through research and education, not political narratives.""The Smithsonian Institution has worked tirelessly to present a comprehensive narrative of our nation’s amazing history, from its many triumphs to its trials.There is nothing more American than telling our story truthfully," the senators said.President Donald Trump during an executive order signing in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on June 3, 2026.
(Shawn Thew/EPA/Bloomberg ...