FIRST ON FOX: The White House is going after Democratic lawmakers looking to upend House GOP plans to make President Donald Trump’s Gulf of America name change permanent.
The House Rules Committee, the final gatekeeper before most legislation gets a House-wide vote, is considering a bill to codify Trump’s decision to cease calling the body of water on the U.S. Southeast “the Gulf of Mexico.”
“Democrats are so overtaken with Trump Derangement Syndrome and obsessed with obstructing the President’s agenda that they will always put America last,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told Fox News Digital.
“As President Trump said, the Gulf of America has long been an integral asset to our nation. All future generations should be able to recognize this beautiful body of water as a sign of American greatness.”
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Four Democrats have submitted amendments in a bid to upend the legislation — though none are likely to pass, given the committee’s Republican majority.
The first measure, led by Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., would revert a similar Trump decision to rename Mt. McKinley in Alaska. The highest peak in North America, former President Barack Obama stripped his assassinated predecessor’s name from the mountain in favor of Mt. Denali, the name originally given by the indigenous peoples who lived in the area.
Trump signed an executive order restoring McKinley as its name on his first day in office this year.
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A second amendment by Rep. Darren Soto, D-Fla., is aimed at limiting Trump’s ability to issue oil and gas drilling leases in the Gulf region.
Rep. Maxine Dexter, D-Ore., meanwhile, submitted an amendment that, if passed, would block the Trump administration from “retribution” against news organizations that refer to the area as the Gulf of Mexico.
The White House had blocked access for an Associated Press journalist earlier this year after the organization continued to refer to the gulf’s former name even after Trump’s executive order. A federal judge ordered the White House to reverse that last month.
The fourth amendment submitted by Democrats, led by Rep. Luz Rivas, D-Calif., would prevent the formal name change from taking effect until the Department of Interior carried out an assessment on whether it would benefit the economy.
Rivas told Fox News Digital that the Gulf of America rename is a “vanity project” that “accomplishes nothing” in response to the White House statement.
“Millions of Americans are struggling because of President Trump’s economic policies, and Republicans in Congress have yet to put forth a legislative proposal that lowers the costs of groceries, protects healthcare, or lowers housing costs,” Rivas said.
The bill itself is expected to get a vote sometime this week.
It’s one of several pieces of legislation House Republicans are advancing aimed at making Trump’s executive actions permanent.
Trump’s executive order renaming the gulf was one of the first actions he took in his second term.
The remaining three Democratic offices who Fox News Digital reached for comment did not get back by press time.
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