House Republicans moved forward with an effort to rename the Kennedy Center Opera House after first lady Melania Trump just months after President Donald Trump seized control of the national arts center and established himself as chairman.
If the proposal to honor Melania becomes law, the venue’s second largest space will be known as the “First Lady Melania Trump Opera House.”
On Tuesday, July 22, the Republican-led House Appropriations Committee voted 33-25 to approve an amendment that calls for the first-ever renaming of the famed Kennedy Center stage.
The amendment is now tucked into a larger bill that’s intended to allocate funding for the Interior Department, the Environmental Protection Agency and related agencies during the upcoming fiscal year. The bill has not yet been approved by the full House, which is about to go on an extended summer break.
In line with tradition for a first lady, Melania currently serves as an honorary Kennedy Center chair.
During her husband’s first term as president, she shirked her duties to participate in the Kennedy Center Honors, which are traditionally held in the Opera House and followed with a White House reception hosted by the first couple.
The Trumps distanced themselves from the event each year, and White House receptions resumed in 2021 under the Bidens.
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This time around, since Donald’s hostile purge of the Kennedy Center’s leadership in February and subsequent cuts to “woke” programming, the first couple has only made one prominent public appearance at the arts center, to attend the opening night of Les Misérables — one of Donald’s favorite musicals.
Donald and Melania’s arrival at the Opera House on June 11 was met with a mixture of boos and cheers, the latter of which came largely from their invited guests. Several lead actors in the musical boycotted the evening’s performance because of the Trumps’ attendance.
Still, the Trumps and Vances maintain a very visible presence in the Kennedy Center: their official portraits are prominently hung in the Hall of Nations.
Naming the Kennedy Center Opera House after a sitting first lady — particularly one who has been met with criticism by the arts communities it houses — would be an unusual move, yet it comes amid a string of far-fetched attempts by House Republicans to curry favor with the president by plastering his family’s name and likeness across the nation even before their legacy is cemented.
If every GOP-led bill had gone through, Washington Dulles International Airport would instead be called Donald J. Trump International, the president’s birthday would be a national holiday, and his face would be on both currency and Mount Rushmore.
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In May, Florida Rep. Greg Steube even suggested halting funding to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority (WMATA) if it did not change its name to Washington Metropolitan Authority for Greater Access (otherwise known as WMAGA) and rename its Metrorail subway system to be called the “Trump Train.”
“It is unprecedented and to be honest with you, it’s completely wild,” John White, professor emeritus of politics at Catholic University, told The Washington Post in June. “History shows that most things are named after presidents after they have either long left office or been deceased.”
The first lady’s office and the Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment about House Republicans’ proposed Opera House name change.
