Sunday, 06 October 2024

GOP Bill Would Rename Coastal Waters After Trump


Former President Donald Trump walks on to the stage to give the keynote address at Turning Point Action's (Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

Coastal waters around the United States would be named after former President Donald Trump, who is currently running for another term in the White House, if a long-shot bill proposed by a House Republican gets enacted into law.

Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) announced last week that he would be introducing a bill to re-designate the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the United States. References to the EEZ in law, maps, regulation, documents, papers, or other records of the U.S. would be named the “Donald John Trump Exclusive Economic Zone of the United States” under the plan.

“Floridians know the great value of our coastal natural resources and how important it is to have a president who cares about the strength and resilience of our oceans,” Steube said. “During his time in office, President Trump took several commendable actions for our oceans as part of his work to make America strong, secure, and economically prosperous.”

Steube added in the press release, “I’m honored to introduce legislation that will rename our coastal waters after President Trump and serve as a reminder of his many contributions to our nation for generations to come.”

The legislation faces long odds as the Senate and the White House are controlled by Democrats. Still, the party divide in the halls of Washington has not stopped Republicans in the GOP-led House from offering measures to promote Trump. That includes recently-proposed legislation from Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) to have Trump’s portrait appear on $500 bills.

House Republicans have also put forward legislation this year that would rename Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia — one of the major airports in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan are — as the “Donald J. Trump International Airport” in all laws, maps, regulations, documents, papers, or other records of the United States.

Democrats in the House offered a bill seeking to change the name of the Miami Federal Correctional Institution — the closest federal prison to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida — to the “Donald J. Trump Federal Correctional Institution” in a nod to the criminal matters the former president is facing, including a guilty verdict in New York.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the United States claimed a 200-nautical-mile EEZ in 1983 that “extends beyond and adjacent to the seaward boundary of the 12-nautical-mile (14-mile) territorial sea of the United States” that “includes Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, and other U.S. possessions.” It adds: “With more 3.4 million square nautical miles (4 million square miles) of ocean, the U.S. EEZ is larger than the land area of all 50 states combined and is one of the largest EEZs in the world.”


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