# Plain Language Summary: Robert E. Lee Monument Removal Act

This bill directs the federal government to remove and destroy a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee that currently stands at Antietam National Battlefield in Maryland. The statue sits on land that the National Park Service acquired in 2005 as part of expanding the battlefield park. If passed, the Secretary of the Interior would be required to take down the monument and have it destroyed, rather than preserved or moved elsewhere.

The bill requires the Secretary to submit a detailed plan to Congress within one year of the law taking effect, outlining exactly how and when the removal and destruction will happen. Once the statue is destroyed, the government can sell off the raw materials as scrap metal and use any money from that sale to help pay for the removal and destruction costs. After the monument is gone, the site would be restored in a way that fits with how the Antietam National Battlefield is currently protected and interpreted for visitors.

This legislation essentially makes a decision that many communities have grappled with in recent years: whether Confederate monuments on public property should be removed. In this case, Congress would be saying that this particular statue should not remain on federal land at a Civil War battlefield. The bill doesn't affect any Confederate monuments on private property or in other locations—it's specifically about this one statue at this one national park.