A group of residents hoping to give the nation a lesson in Kansas’ role in the Civil War is getting a lesson about how the federal legislative process works: slowly.

Organizers conceded Tuesday that congressional approval to have a large chunk of eastern Kansas designated a National Heritage Area for its role leading up to the Civil War won’t happen during this year’s Congress.

“That seems to be the unfortunate fact,” said Deanell Tacha, chief judge of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and a Lawrence resident who is chairwoman of a group pushing for the designation. “But we got very close and are very hopeful that during the next session of Congress we’ll be able to get over the finish line.”

In February, Rep. Jim Ryun and Sen. Sam Brownback, both Kansas Republicans, introduced bills in the House and Senate calling for creation of the district. Such a designation would open doors for federal funding to preserve the area’s history and promote it to tourists.

But the bills failed to gain traction during the session. Supporters of the movement, though, said they didn’t find that disheartening.

“I don’t think this is a reflection on the quality of our proposal,” said City Commissioner David Dunfield, who is part of the group pushing for the designation. “I think it is more of a question of Congress trying to determine how many of these areas it wants.”

Currently, there are 24 such areas across the country.

Dunfield said a number of other areas also made requests to be named a National Heritage Area. The number of requests was not immediately available from the National Park Service, which oversees the National Heritage Area program.

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But Tacha said she thought the Kansas proposal would do well against others because the state’s Bleeding Kansas story and abolitionist movement were major events in the nation’s history.

“Our story ranks right up there in terms of importance,” Tacha said. “We have a very cohesive story to tell and a very compelling one that would capture the attention of the nation.”

And the Bleeding Kansas proposal should stand out because it has broad support from Kansas’ legislative delegation, she said. Every member of the delegation has signed on as a sponsor of the two bills.

“I don’t think we are suffering from any lack of preparation that some others might be,” Tacha said.

Aaron Groote, a spokesman for Brownback, said the senator would reintroduce the legislation early in the next session and was “hopeful it will be taken up in a quick manner.”

As currently proposed, the area would include Douglas, Allen, Anderson, Bourbon, Cherokee, Clay, Coffey, Crawford, Franklin, Geary, Johnson, Labette, Leavenworth, Linn, Miami, Neosho, Pottawatomie, Riley, Shawnee, Wabaunsee, Wilson, Woodson and Wyandotte counties.