The House took a largely party-line 211-206 vote Thursday to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America,” moving to codify President Donald Trump’s recent executive order.
One Republican, Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), voted against the bill that had been led by firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who hailed it as “one of the most important things that we can do this Congress.”
Democrats denounced the move to cement Trump’s executive order renaming the body as a waste of congressional time.
“When the American people woke up this morning, they could reasonably ask the question, what are their elected representatives on the floor of the House of Representatives going to be debating?” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said.
It does not appear that Senate Republicans will make the bill a priority. It would need to gather at least seven Democratic votes to vault a filibuster. Asked Thursday if the Senate would take up the legislation, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said he hadn’t thought “that far ahead” and asked, “Does it take Congress to do that?”
