{"id":11574737,"date":"2025-07-23T16:02:50","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T20:02:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/?p=11574737"},"modified":"2025-07-23T18:08:05","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T22:08:05","slug":"rename-kennedy-center-opera-house-melania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/2025\/07\/23\/rename-kennedy-center-opera-house-melania\/","title":{"rendered":"House panel advances bill to rename Kennedy Center opera venue for Melania Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"

Republicans on the U.S. House Appropriations Committee voted Tuesday to rename the Opera House at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., for first lady Melania Trump.<\/p>\n

The panel adopted, 33-25, a package of amendments to the bill funding the Interior Department, Environmental Protection Agency and related agencies for fiscal 2026, which included a provision to designate the First Lady Melania Trump Opera House at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.<\/p>\n

The vote was mostly along party lines, with Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington joining all Republicans present in voting in favor.<\/p>\n

The ranking Democrat on the Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine, said she was \u201csurprised\u201d by the provision.<\/p>\n

\u201cRepublicans snuck in something that I think is slightly divisive, which is renaming one section of the Kennedy Center after a family member of this administration,\u201d Pingree said during the full committee markup \u2014 a meeting when a bill is debated, amended and voted on.<\/p>\n

Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Mike Simpson, an Idaho Republican, responded that the name change was \u201can excellent way to recognize the first lady\u2019s support and commitment to promoting the arts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, we renamed the Opera House at the Kennedy Center for the first lady, who is the honorary chairman of the board of trustees of the Kennedy Center,\u201d Simpson said.<\/p>\n

The Kennedy Center is considered one of the nation\u2019s premier performing arts venues.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump removed several members of the Kennedy Center board in February, replacing them with loyalists who elected him board chair. He also fired the cultural center\u2019s president, Deborah Rutter, and replaced her on an interim basis with Richard Grenell, who has held several roles during Trump\u2019s presidencies.<\/p>\n

Interior-environment bill<\/h4>\n

The House Interior-Environment spending bill proposes nearly $38 billion for departments and agencies covered by the measure, an overall spending cut of 6% compared with current levels, mainly from chopping 23% of the EPA\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n

The Interior Department would see a cut of less than one-half of 1% of its current funding, according to a summary provided by committee Republicans.<\/p>\n

Arts and culture funding would also see major cuts in the bill.<\/p>\n

The National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities would each see 35% cuts, bringing each agency\u2019s funding to $135 million. The Smithsonian Institution would receive $961.3 million, representing a 12% cut. The Kennedy Center itself would see a 17.2% cut, to $37.2 million.<\/p>\n

The full House Appropriations Committee approved the bill with the amendment, 33-28.<\/p>\n

Appropriations bills must win 60 votes in the Senate to become law, which generally makes it difficult for overly partisan provisions to be included in the final text.<\/p>\n

The corresponding Senate subcommittee has not released its version of the bill but is scheduled to consider it Thursday.<\/p>\n

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501(c)(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions:\u00a0scrane@marylandmatters.org<\/a>. Follow Maryland Matters on\u00a0Facebook\u00a0and\u00a0Bluesky.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

House Republicans voted to rename the Kennedy Center\u2019s Opera House after Melania Trump, sparking partisan debate and scrutiny over proposed arts funding cuts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":235,"featured_media":11409947,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-07-23T21:39:32Z","apple_news_api_id":"67e4e245-fe2a-4ae8-892f-0c4f9200ef21","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-07-23T21:39:32Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AZ-TiRf4qSuiJLwxPkgDvIQ","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"middle","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"subheadline":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[114,116,83,84,121,91,24758,85,93,113],"tags":[26242,24457,26071],"feature":[],"location":[],"type-of-work":[],"coauthors":[26834],"class_list":["post-11574737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-entertainment","category-latest-headlines","category-local-news","category-music-concerts","category-national","category-national-politics","category-news","category-politics","category-things-to-do","tag-maryland-matters","tag-social","tag-trump-administration"],"post_status":"","edit_last":0,"edit_lock":0,"highlights":"","original_byline":"","original_canonical":"","original_category":"","original_email":"","original_id":0,"original_pubdate":"","original_source":"","primary_section":"93","primary_tag":0,"print_workflow_body":{"deck_headline":"","print_title":"House panel advances bill to rename Kennedy Center opera venue for Melania Trump","print_subheadline":"","print_priority":"","print_placement":"inside","print_planned_ready":"","print_pub_date":"1753329600","print_slug":"TBS-L-KENNDYCENTER-0723","print_budget_line":"","print_excerpt":"House Republicans voted to rename the Kennedy Center\u2019s Opera House after Melania Trump, sparking partisan debate and scrutiny over proposed arts funding cuts.","print_notes":"","photo_limits":"Photo limits are: 1 featured image, 5 featured gallery images, 5 embedded gallery images and 5 in-article embedded images. Articles that exceed these limits will not export. Please adjust images to reflect these limits.","print_featured_gallery_richtext":"","print_inline_galleries_richtext":"","print_inline_images_richtext":"","print_content":"

Republicans on the U.S. House Appropriations Committee voted Tuesday to rename the Opera House at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., for first lady Melania Trump.<\/p>

The panel adopted, 33-25, a package of amendments to the bill funding the Interior Department, Environmental Protection Agency and related agencies for fiscal 2026, which included a provision to designate the First Lady Melania Trump Opera House at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.<\/p>

The vote was mostly along party lines, with Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington joining all Republicans present in voting in favor.<\/p>

The ranking Democrat on the Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine, said she was \u201csurprised\u201d by the provision.<\/p>

\u201cRepublicans snuck in something that I think is slightly divisive, which is renaming one section of the Kennedy Center after a family member of this administration,\u201d Pingree said during the full committee markup \u2014 a meeting when a bill is debated, amended and voted on.<\/p>

Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Mike Simpson, an Idaho Republican, responded that the name change was \u201can excellent way to recognize the first lady\u2019s support and commitment to promoting the arts.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cYes, we renamed the Opera House at the Kennedy Center for the first lady, who is the honorary chairman of the board of trustees of the Kennedy Center,\u201d Simpson said.<\/p>

The Kennedy Center is considered one of the nation\u2019s premier performing arts venues.<\/p>

President Donald Trump removed several members of the Kennedy Center board in February, replacing them with loyalists who elected him board chair. He also fired the cultural center\u2019s president, Deborah Rutter, and replaced her on an interim basis with Richard Grenell, who has held several roles during Trump\u2019s presidencies.<\/p>

Interior-environment bill<\/h4>

The House Interior-Environment spending bill proposes nearly $38 billion for departments and agencies covered by the measure, an overall spending cut of 6% compared with current levels, mainly from chopping 23% of the EPA\u2019s budget.<\/p>

The Interior Department would see a cut of less than one-half of 1% of its current funding, according to a summary provided by committee Republicans.<\/p>

Arts and culture funding would also see major cuts in the bill.<\/p>

The National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities would each see 35% cuts, bringing each agency\u2019s funding to $135 million. The Smithsonian Institution would receive $961.3 million, representing a 12% cut. The Kennedy Center itself would see a 17.2% cut, to $37.2 million.<\/p>

The full House Appropriations Committee approved the bill with the amendment, 33-28.<\/p>

Appropriations bills must win 60 votes in the Senate to become law, which generally makes it difficult for overly partisan provisions to be included in the final text.<\/p>

The corresponding Senate subcommittee has not released its version of the bill but is scheduled to consider it Thursday.<\/p>

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501(c)(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions:\u00a0scrane@marylandmatters.org<\/a>. Follow Maryland Matters on\u00a0Facebook\u00a0and\u00a0Bluesky.<\/em><\/p>"},"print_workflow_exported_ts":"1753308723","print_workflow_exported_username":"Andy Knobel","print_workflow_shapes":"","print_workflow_side":{"print_section":"24225","print_status":"24232","add_export_buttons":"","print_endpoint":"tribune"},"really_short_title":"","short_title":"","syndication_source":"","market_neutral_title":"","social_title":"","dfm_hub_post_id":0,"paywall_level":"","featured_media_content":{"content_type":"image","content":{"id":11409947,"title":"Trump_31371-1","filename":"Trump_31371-1.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Trump_31371-1.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/2025\/04\/29\/take-it-down-act-deepfakes-revenge-porn\/trump_31371-1\/","alt":"","author":"13","description":"First lady Melania Trump listens as President Donald Trump speaks with reporters as she and the president depart on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House, Friday, April 25, 2025, in Washington. 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