Washington– What started as a widely supported proposal to locate a new site Smithsonian Museum of American Women’s History The National Mall battle evolved into a partisan fight Thursday after Republicans revised the legislation to ensure it doesn’t exist Transgender people They are included in the exhibits.
The House rejected the bill by a vote of 204 to 216, a result that makes the next steps uncertain. The amended bill would also prohibit “diversity” of viewpoints and giving President Donald Trump The final say on the location of the museum.
“It was a simple bill. You kind of ruined it with your trans obsession and your culture wars,” Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, a New Mexico Democrat and chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus, said earlier in the week.
But Republicans said it was Democrats who overreacted to the changes and are now threatening progress toward creating the long-awaited reform. Women’s Museum In the country’s capital.
Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis of New York, the bill’s main sponsor, said it was “a shame” that Democrats stood in the way of the bill’s passage.
“Maybe it’s the party that opposes a women’s history museum on the National Mall because it wants to have transgender exhibits — maybe they’re the trans nerds,” Malliotakis said.
In the final result, a small number of Republicans voted against the bill, joining Democrats who led the opposition. The chamber deadlocked as GOP leaders asked for support from their ranks.
Among Republican opponents, some conservatives simply wouldn’t agree to creating a women-focused museum at all.
“We say we need to unite this country, but then we isolate every group,” said Rep. Tim Burchett, Republican of Tennessee, who was among several members of the conservative Freedom Caucus who voted against the resolution.
The turn of events jeopardizes the long-running effort to open a museum in Washington dedicated to women. Legislation authorizing the museum during Trump’s first term was approved in 2020, and this latest bill would secure its location in National Mall. Trump has been interested in reshaping cultural institutions in the capital, starting with Kennedy Center To the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting pond.
At the beginning of the year, the bill had the support of about 230 cosponsors, a rare show of bipartisan cooperation in the divided House, where Republicans hold a slim majority. But because of changes to the bill, the Democratic Women’s Caucus opposed the final version, and Democratic leaders encouraged a “no” vote.
The leaders of the women’s gathering said in a statement: “The women’s museum, which women fought for and supported, should not be controlled by one man.” “Republicans have replaced women’s representation with Trump’s gains and arrogance. It’s as embarrassing as it is disappointing.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson He said the changes should not be controversial, but his efforts to pass the bill with Republicans alone over Democratic objections failed.
“Why would they push back? Simply because the bill reinforces an objective fact that a women’s museum, get ready, should only display women,” said Johnson, the Los Angeles Republican.
Florida Republican Rep. Kat Cammack said Thursday that she brought her young daughter, Augusta, to the chamber to see history being made.
“Biological women deserve to have their stories told,” Cammack said, holding her baby during her speech.
But Rep. Joe Morrell of New York, the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, said Republicans had ditched the bipartisan bill in favor of one favored by the Trump White House.
Initially introduced as a step toward securing the museum site, the legislation was revised during a committee vote last month in several ways.
One change added a mission scope that stated, “The museum shall be dedicated to the preservation, research, and display of the history, accomplishments, and life experiences of biological women in the United States.”
It also adds a prohibition stating that “the museum may not identify, present, describe, or portray any biological male as female.”
Another change added specific details about where the museum would be located on the mall — near 14th Street Southwest and Jefferson Drive, “except that the President may designate an alternative location for the museum within 180 days from the date of enactment of this subsection.”
Democrats said the change in the clause gives Trump the power to decide where the museum will eventually go. “And we don’t agree with that,” Leger Fernandez said.
But Republicans argued that the provision was simply a fail-safe in case there was any problem with the proposed site to ensure the museum could move forward.
An additional review this week removed the word “diversity,” saying instead the museum’s governing board must ensure a “range” of political views and experiences.
“I think it’s ridiculous that we’re even arguing about this,” Malliotakis said.
She said that what bothers Democrats is that Trump will be the one who will lay the foundation stone for the museum, “but this is the reality.”
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Associated Press writers Stephen Groves, Joey Cappelletti and Kevin Freking contributed to this report.