Washington — The House on Thursday passed a bill to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America,” which would codify an executive order signed by President Trump on his second day in office.
In a 211 to 206 vote, all but one Republican supporting the measure, which was introduced by GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia in January and instructs federal agencies to update all documents and maps to reflect the name change within six months of enactment. It now goes to the Senate.
Even if the name change is codified into U.S. law, however, other countries would be under no obligation to refer to the Gulf of Mexico by the new name. If it isn’t codified, a future president could reverse Mr. Trump’s executive order.
Greene lauded the measure ahead of the vote Thursday morning, calling it “one of the most important things that we can do this Congress,” while claiming that Democrats are catering to Mexican cartels by opposing the name change.
“This is such an important thing to do for the American people,” Greene said. “The American people deserve pride in their country and they deserve pride in the waters that we own, that we protect with our military and our coastguard.”
Democrats have called the effort a waste of taxpayer dollars and said Congress should be spending its time on more serious issues. GOP Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska was the sole Republican to oppose the measure.
Bacon has publicly disagreed with his Republican colleagues, telling CNN earlier this week that the effort to rename the body of water “seems juvenile.”
“We’re the United States of America,” he said. “We’re not Kaiser Wilhelm’s Germany or Napoleon’s France. I just — we’re better than this. It just sounds like a sophomore thing to do.”
The vote came as House Republicans clash over slashing Medicaid and other social safety net programs to pay for Mr. Trump’s tax, border security and energy agenda.
“Instead of debating that very important and destructive legislation, they are speaking up today about this deeply unserious bill to rename a body of water,” Rep. Jared Huffman, a California Democrat, said ahead of the vote Thursday. “A Congress that more and more appears to just be a joke, is now advancing a bill that literally started off as a joke.”
An estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that it would cost less than $500,000 over five years to update federal documents and maps. But during a House Rules Committee meeting Monday to advance the measure, Democrats noted that schools, libraries and municipalities would bear the costs of updating textbooks, signs and other materials.
“If a school district can’t afford to purchase an entirely new map, you know what? A sticker would do,” said Rep. Michelle Fischbach, a Minnesota Republican, on Monday. “Just put that over the top and put ‘Gulf of America.’ I mean, there are a lot of simple ways to deal with this.”
Meanwhile, the White House has dug in on the name change, restricting Associated Press reporters’ access to events over the news organization’s decision to refer to the Gulf by its original name, while also acknowledging the “Gulf of America” name. The Associated Press sued over the restrictions and a federal judge ruled that the White House restore its access to the Oval Office, Air Force One and other spaces and events when they are open to other reporters.