important to us in and it's important to the rest of america and i'm pleased that my good friend, has essman adrian smith, been working on this effort to rename the homestead national the ent of america to homestead national historical park to clear up some confusion. important change will more accurately reflect the ature and mission of this unique national service park unit. the homestead act, as we have heard, of 1862, it really did forever change the direction of our nation. few facts through a that have already been mentioned but i think they're worthwhile emphasizing. exchange for the $18 filing fee, and just this, a commitment to improve the land, new u.s. 160 acres and farm wn it outright after five years. almost inconceivable to us today, but this is how this began. park service l unit dedicated to telling the of these ary story incredible pioneers is located nebraska.ce, thank you, chairman huffman, for clarifying how it's pronounced, beatrice, nebraska. area. to represent this it's only about 50 minutes from my home in lincoln, so it's part of the broad neighborhood of the and thi