House Republicans want to name the John F. Kennedy Center’s opera house after first lady Melania Trump.
Republicans included language that would designate the opera house at the center for the performing arts in Washington, DC, as the “First Lady Melania Trump Opera House” in an amendment for a spending bill for the Interior Department.
It’s unclear whether the bill will pass the full House, let alone whether it could make it into a bipartisan agreement with the Senate, so it remains an open question whether the provision could become law.
The House is set to recess on Wednesday, leaving lawmakers with limited time when they return in September before the government runs out of funding. Before the deadline, lawmakers will either have to pass a series of full-year appropriations bills or a short-term funding extension – and whatever they pass to fund the government will need Democratic support in the Senate.
Idaho GOP Rep. Mike Simpson, who introduced the amendment, said, “Yes, we renamed the opera house at the Kennedy Center for the first lady, who is the honorary chairman of the board of trustees of the Kennedy Center,” during the House Appropriations Committee’s Tuesday meeting on the bill.
He argued that it’s an “excellent way to recognize” the first lady’s “support and commitment to promoting the arts.”
The amendment was adopted by the committee, 35-22, with Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez joining with the panel’s Republicans to vote yes.
The first lady’s office did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.
Earlier this year, the newly constituted board of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts elected President Donald Trump as its chairman.
“It is a Great Honor to be Chairman of The Kennedy Center, especially with this amazing Board of Trustees. We will make The Kennedy Center a very special and exciting place!” Trump said in a statement on his Truth Social platform at the time.
CNN’s Betsy Klein contributed to this report.
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