A group of House Republicans has introduced legislation to rename Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia after former President Donald Trump.
Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa., the chief deputy majority whip, is the bill’s sponsor. Six other Republicans, including Reps. Michael Waltz of Florida, Andrew Ogles of Tennessee, Chuck Fleischmann of Tennessee, Paul Gosar of Arizona, Barry Moore of Alabama, and Troy Nehls of Texas, are co-sponsors.
According to the proposal, it would “designate the Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia as the ‘Donald J. Trump International Airport.'”
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will review it further.
“Freedom, prosperity, and strength”—that is what America stood for under President Donald J. Trump’s leadership—the best president of my lifetime,” Reschenthaler wrote on X on Tuesday. “And that’s why I’m introducing legislation to rename Dulles as the Donald J. Trump International Airport.”
Some House Democrats questioned the decision to rename the airport, which is 26 miles west of downtown Washington, D.C.
“This idea is ridiculous, but sadly real,” Rep. Abigail Spanberger, who is running for governor of Virginia, wrote Tuesday in a post on X. She added that Congress should instead focus on reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration and granting international aid. “Yet this is what a member of House Republican leadership focuses on—rrenaming Virginia’s Dulles airport after Trump.”
Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., wrote in a post on Tuesday that one of Trump’s first acts as president was “a racist Muslim ban that barred permanent American residents from visiting their home country.” The congressman stated that he traveled to Dulles Airport at the time “to try to help innocent people caught up in the chaos.”
“I remember Republicans like those who wrote this bill hiding and giving mealy-mouthed responses when asked about the suffering Trump’s Muslim ban caused,” Beyer said in a statement. “They comprehend that renaming Dulles after Trump is not a possibility.” Again, it isn’t the purpose; the point is to appease their dear leader.”
Former Rep. Denver Riggleman, R-Va., who assisted the House select committee that examined Jan. 6 in the previous Congress, stated on Tuesday that the bill’s filing was not an April Fool’s joke. “No reasonable VA representative would support it. “If you want to’sycophant’, stick to your own damn airports,” he replied.
Dulles opened in December 1962 and is named for John Foster Dulles, the secretary of state under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1959.
