There's some good news out of Capitol Hill for the nonprofit group that operates the battleship Missouri museum on Ford Island.

Under a plan cleared by the U.S. House Armed Services Committee, the museum operators would get a $415,000 rent reduction over two years.

It's relief that's long overdue. The museum relies heavily on admission fees and donations to keep its doors open. Yet it is forced to pay the Navy $17,300 monthly rent for its berth. The museum association also is required to maintain the battleship in accordance with Navy standards, an expensive undertaking.

The historic battleship deserves to be preserved and the museum provides precious access to pieces of our nation's past that should not be forgotten nor left to deteriorate.

Mighty Mo already faces millions in repair costs to fix the massive ship's corroding hull, among other things.

So it was good to see U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie's provision requiring the Navy to waive the rent paid by the USS Missouri Memorial Association for two years.

The provision was necessary due to a law that requires the Navy to charge fair-market rent for its property.

Abercrombie, chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Air and Land Forces, noted that with no real commercial capacity for Missouri's berth, the rent should technically be zero. He's working on a plan to achieve that goal.

As Abercrombie rightly notes, the nonprofits that maintain historical museums are providing a public service: "Without them, many of our country's most precious symbols would have been lost forever, and succeeding generations would never have the chance to visit and experience America's history."

The USS Missouri must not become one of those casualties.