BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — America’s 250th anniversary celebration — coming to Bakersfield on July 3 — is an occasion so big it apparently requires not one but two separate and distinct organizing committees.
One, America 250, was established by the nonpartisan U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission, created in 2016 by the House and Senate leadership of both parties. It is composed of 16 private citizens, as well as 20 others from all three branches of the federal government, elected, non-elected, Democrat, Republican and unaffiliated. Its chair is Rosie Rios, a former U.S. treasury secretary.
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“When you think about the semiquincentennial and July 4, this isn’t just a day, this isn’t just a moment, this is a movement,” she said in a speech earlier this year in San Francisco. “It’s more than a memory. It’s a feeling. It’s a feeling of hope, it’s a feeling of prosperity and opportunity for all.”
The other committee, Freedom 250, was created in 2025 when federal resources were diverted to the Donald Trump-aligned White House Task Force on Celebrating America’s 250th Birthday…