Italian Heroes and Heritage Act

119 HR 5739 IH: Italian Heroes and Heritage Act U.S. House of Representatives 2025-10-10 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. I 119th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 5739 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES October 10, 2025 Mr. Rulli introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform A BILL To prohibit Federal funds from being provided to any State or local government that celebrates Indigenous Peoples Day instead of Columbus Day, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Italian Heroes and Heritage Act . 2. Findings; sense of Congress (a) Findings The Congress finds the following: (1) Christopher Columbus set sail 533 years ago in 1492 to bravely cross the Atlantic Ocean and discovered new land that would soon after become known as America. (2) President Benjamin Harrison founded Christopher Columbus day in 1892 to honor Christopher Columbus’s voyage and the 11 Italian-Americans murdered by a New Orleans lynch mob due to suspicion and hatred of Italian-Americans. (3) The 11 people brutally murdered were Italian-American cobbler Pietro Monasterio; fruit importer Joseph P. Macheca; fruit peddlers Antonio Bagnetto, Antonio Marchesi, Antonio Scaffidi; rice plantation laborer Charles Traina; stevedores James Caruso and Rocco Geraci; street vendor Emmanuele Polizzi; tinsmith Loreto Comitis; and ward politician Frank Romero. (b) Sense of congress It is the sense of Congress that October 13th should continue to be celebrated nationwide as Christopher Columbus Day, as it has been since 1892, to honor our Italian-American heritage and our forefather, Christopher Columbus, who helped to discover this great land. 3. Prohibition on providing Federal funds to local governments that celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day instead of Columbus Day Notwithstanding any other provision of law, during the 1-year period beginning after October 13, 2025, and each Columbus Day (as described in section 6103(a) of title 5, United States Code) thereafter, no Federal funds may be obligated, expended, or otherwise dispursed to any State or unit of local government that celebrates Indigenous Peoples Day in lieu of Columbus Day.