House Republicans are trying to rename part of the Kennedy Center for First Lady Melania Trump.
The effort to slap the Trump name on the performing arts center is the latest in a series of attempts by GOP lawmakers to rename prominent landmarks after the Trumps.
The amendment to rename the Opera House was introduced by Rep. Mike Simpson as GOP lawmakers were marking up the spending bill for the Interior Department for FY2026.
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“First Lady Melania Trump serves as the Honorary Chair of the Board of Trustees at the Kennedy Center. Naming a theater after her is an excellent way to recognize her appreciation for the arts,” said Simpson in a statement provided to Daily Beast.
“As Chairman of the House Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee—which oversees federal funding for capital repairs and operations and maintenance at the Kennedy Center—I am proud to honor her support and commitment in promoting the arts and humanities.”
Democrats blasted Republicans for trying to rename part of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., while trying to slash funding to the National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities and the Kennedy Center’s budget.
The center’s three major sections, the Eisenhower Theater, Opera House, and Concert Hall, have never been renamed, but the move would further blur the lines between the cultural center and the Trump administration.
In February, President Donald Trump announced that he was firing members of the Kennedy Center board of trustees and naming himself chairman.
The president named his close supporter Richard Grenell as president of the center. Some of the officials the president appointed this year to serve as trustees include his White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, Dan Scavino, Sergio Gor and Second Lady Usha Vance.
He also appointed two Fox News hosts, Laura Ingraham and Maria Bartiromo, to serve on the board.
As part of the Trump makeover, large portraits of the president, first lady, vice president, and second lady also currently hang in the center.
Unlike former President Joe Biden and other presidents for decades, Trump did not attend the annual Kennedy Center honors during his first term in office.
Last month, the president and first lady were in attendance for the Kennedy Center’s opening night of Les Misérables.
Their appearance at the performance was greeted with mixed reaction as some attendees applauded their arrival while others booed from the audience at the Trumps looked on.
House Republicans have previously tried to rename Washington’s Dulles International Airport for the president.
