As communities across the nation prepare to commemorate next year's 150th anniversary of the Civil War, some are struggling with a lack of funding, while a bill that could change that is stuck in a House committee.

The Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission Act, which would establish a national, federally funded committee to help organize commemorative events, was introduced to the House on March 4 by Illinois Democratic Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and then referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, where it is still waiting to be passed, according to Jackson spokesman Andrew Wilson.

Democratic Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu introduced an act of the same name to the Senate in October 2009, but it never made it out of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Wilson says....