A series of legislative proposals introduced by House Republicans, seemingly aimed at currying favor with President Donald Trump, would almost be funny, according to their Democratic colleagues, if they didn’t hint at a darker reality.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., introduced a bill to put Trump’s face on Mount Rushmore. Freshman Rep. Addison McDowell, R-N.C., has a bill to rename Dulles International Airport in Trump’s honor. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., has introduced proposals to help Trump rename the Gulf of Mexico and expunge his two impeachments.
Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., meanwhile, has floated a constitutional amendment that would let Trump seek a third term in the White House.
“It would be laughable if it wasn’t so dangerous,” said House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar of California.
“It’s kind of sick … They want to get on his good side,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., ranking member on the Rules Committee. “It’s like a cult. And I think they need help.”
Messaging bills aren’t a new phenomenon in Congress. It’s exceedingly common for members to introduce legislation they know will go nowhere in order to bring attention to an issue or send a signal to voters.
What’s new this time around, Democrats and some experts say, is the attempt to memorialize and flatter a sitting president.
“This is about House Republicans trying to get as close to Donald Trump as they can,” Aguilar said. “They want to do everything they can to keep the Mar-a-Lago invites coming and be nice to him because it suits their interest.”
Republican sponsors of the bills begged to differ.
“Um, that’s their opinion,” Luna aid when asked about the charge that she was pandering to Trump. “He’s done some incredible things for our country, so I think he deserves to be solidified in stone.”
“I think that’s an absurd thing for them to say. We honor people in this country that do an incredible job, and that’s what we’re doing,” said McDowell, whose measure mirrors one introduced introduced last Congress by Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa. “I don’t need to pander to anyone.”
Ogles brushed aside the insinuation that he was attempting to cozy up to Trump, instead focusing on the importance of his proposal, which would allow a third term for presidents who serve nonconsecutively.
“When you look at the damage that President Biden did in four years, it’ll take a decade to unwind it. So giving Trump two consecutive terms would allow us to restore the nation,” Ogles said.
Neither Ogles nor McDowell claimed to have spoken to Trump about their proposals, though Ogles did note that Trump had previously expressed openness to hanging around for a third term.
It’s not unheard of for Congress to name things after presidents, for example, though they tend to be out of office or dead by the time the legislature gets around to it. Casey Burgat, director of the Legislative Affairs Program at George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management, said he’s not aware of any historical precedent for the current wave of legislative flattery.
“We don’t typically memorialize people when they’re still alive, let alone in office,” Burgat said. “And it’s not just one or two. There seems to be a contagion effect of who wants to stand out as the most Trump-supporting member of Congress, using the position of their office to introduce legislation they know is going nowhere but sends a message of love to the president.”
None of the bills has much chance at passage, even in the Republican-controlled House. Most have few sponsors, and past efforts — including a series of similar proposals introduced in 2024 that would have created a $500 Trump bill or renamed U.S. coastal waters for the president — went nowhere.
But passage isn’t necessarily the point.
John V. Kane, an associate professor at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs, co-authored a new working paper posted this week that lays out the potential payoffs of messaging bills for members.
Kane and his co-authors found, in part through surveys of voters, that introducing this kind of symbolic legislation can effectively shore up a lawmaker’s base and help their standing within the party.
“It serves as a signal of loyalty and of commitment to one’s constituents … You’re showing that you’re actively working for the team,” Kane said. “It also serves as a signal to party leaders, including the president, that you are someone who is actively trying to advance the party’s agenda.”
Their Democratic critics, however, argue that the messaging bills are a distraction.
“Right now eggs are at their highest price in American history,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., who is among Trump’s most vocal critics in the House and now serves as ranking member on the Judiciary Committee. “That’s what the Republicans should be focused on, because that’s what they ran on.”
The post ‘It’s like a cult’: Democrats aren’t laughing at GOP bills honoring Trump appeared first on Roll Call.
