The House of Representatives voted 211-206 to make President Donald Trump‘s name change for the Gulf of America permanent on Friday morning.
No Democrats voted for the bill, as was expected. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., was the only Republican to vote against the bill.
The legislation was led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a vocal ally of Trump’s in Congress.
“This is such an important thing to do for the American people. The American people deserve pride in their country, and they deserve pride in the waters that we own, that we protect with our military and our Coast Guard and all of the businesses that prosper along these waters,” Greene said during debate on the bill.
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“But Democrats today are outraged. They’re outraged because they love the cartels more than any other people in the world, more than the American people.”
Democratic lawmakers, meanwhile, panned the legislation as a waste of time.
“Republicans think this juvenile legislation is the best use of this House’s time. This is the only work we’re doing today, folks,” Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said in his rebuttal to Greene.
“What a sick joke this is. Republicans worry about 400-year-old words on a map. I worry about families and every community in America that’s struggling to get by.”
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The vast majority of Republicans supported the bill, with several arguing the name change would help boost tourism and a sense of patriotism in the region.
However, earlier this week, Fox News Digital was told that several GOP lawmakers privately expressed frustration at what they saw as a largely symbolic bill taking up their time instead of more meaningful legislation to move Trump’s agenda along.
“I’ve heard criticisms from all corners of the conference. Conservatives to pragmatic ones,” Bacon told Fox News Digital on Tuesday. “It seems sophomoric. The United States is bigger and better than this.”
One conservative GOP lawmaker vented to Fox News Digital, “125 other [executive orders], this is the one we pick.”
Greene hit back at the detractors, however, in response to Fox News Digital’s report.
“Some of my Republican colleagues don’t want to vote for my Gulf of America Act, which is one of President Trump’s favorite executive orders. They say they would rather vote on ‘more serious EOs.’ Boys are you ready to vote to criminalize sex changes on kids?? Because I have that bill on that EO too,” she wrote on X.
The legislation will now be sent to the Senate, where it must reach a 60-vote threshold – with Democratic support – before it can hit the president’s desk.
