WASHINGTON — Seizing on an outcry over steep fees for the new 9/11 museum, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is drafting a new proposal to have the feds take over the memorial portion of the somber site.
The plan is to have the National Park Service run the memorial as a way to lop off substantial operating costs from the combined museum and memorial.
With lower security and maintenance costs, the museum would be able to lower ticket prices from $24.
It would be up to museum officials, and not the feds, to set the new admission charge.
Sen. Charles Schumer is also in on the effort, whose details and strategy are still being worked out.
“The attack on 9/11 was an attack on our entire nation. First responders came from every district in the country and this memorial should be treated just like other national memorials,” said Gillibrand spokesman Glenn Caplin.
Gillibrand staff members toured the facility Friday to meet with museum officials and gather more info.
Any effort is likely to encounter opposition in Congress.
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), a GOP budget hawk, objected previously on the grounds that it would “create a permanent duplicative federal funding stream for a privately operated facility.”