WASHINGTON – A group of House Republicans has introduced a bill to name Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia after former President Donald Trump.
The draft law Act, filed Friday, Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa., is sponsored by the deputy chief whip, and six other Republicans: Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Florida; Andrew Ogles, Tennessee; Chuck Fleischmann, Tennessee; Paul Gosar, Arizona; Barry Moore, Alabama; and Troy Nehls, Texas.
It will “designate Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia as ‘Donald J. Trump International Airport,'” the measure says.
Referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure for further consideration.
“Freedom. Prosperity. Strength. That’s what America stands for under President Donald J. Trump, the best president of my lifetime,” Reschenthaler wrote Tuesday. Writing in X. “And that’s why I’m introducing legislation to rename Dulles as Donald J. Trump International Airport.”
Some House Democrats have said they don’t believe the airport, 26 miles west of downtown Washington, should be renamed.
“This idea is ludicrous, but unfortunately real,” wrote Rep. Abigail Spanberger, who is running for governor of Virginia, on Tuesday. Writing in X, added that Congress should instead focus on reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration and devolving foreign aid. “So far, this is the focus of the House Republican leadership — Trump’s renaming of Dulles Airport in Virginia.”
Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., wrote A thread on X One of Trump’s first acts as president on Tuesday was the “racist Muslim ban that blocks American permanent residents from their own country.” The congressman said he went to Dulles Airport at the time “to help innocent people caught in the chaos.”
“I remember Republicans as the ones who wrote this bill in obscurity and gave tough answers when asked about the suffering caused by Trump’s Muslim ban,” Beyer wrote. “They know that Dulles will never bear Trump’s name. Again, that’s not the point, it’s about defeating their Dear Leader.”
Former Rep. Denver Riggleman, who helped the House select committee investigate Jan. 6 in the last Congress, said the introduction of the X Tuesday bill was not an April Fool’s joke. “No sane VA representative would support that. If you want to ‘thank’ your damn airports,” he said.
Dulles opened in December 1962 and was named after John Foster Dulles, who served as Secretary of State from 1953 to 1959 under President Dwight Eisenhower.