House rejects women’s museum bill over transgender exhibit restrictions
The U.S. Capitol Building stands at the east end of the National Mall which is lined by The Smithsonian Institution Building including the National Gallery of Art, the Air and Space Museum, the Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Museum of the
WASHINGTON - A broadly supported proposal to place a new Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum on the National Mall turned into a partisan dispute this week after Republicans amended the legislation to bar the inclusion of transgender people in the exhibits.
The House rejected the bill, 204-216, an outcome that leaves the next steps uncertain. The revised bill also would ban a "diversity" of views and give President Donald Trump the final say on where the museum would be located.
What they're saying:
"It was a simple bill. You kind of ruined it with your trans obsession and your culture wars," Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, a Democrat from New Mexico and chair of the Democratic Women's Caucus, said earlier in the week.
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But Republicans argued it was Democrats who were overreacting to the changes and now threatening progress toward establishing the long-sought women's museum in the nation's capital.
Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis of New York, the bill's chief sponsor, said "it's a disgrace" that Democrats would be standing in the way of the bill's passage.
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"Perhaps the party that is opposing a women’s history museum on the National Mall because they want to have transgender exhibits — maybe they are the ones who are trans obsessed," Malliotakis said.
In the final tally, a handful of Republicans voted against the bill, joining Democrats who led the opposition. The chamber came to a standstill as GOP leaders scrounged for support from their ranks.
Among the Republican opponents, some conservatives simply disapproved of a museum focused on women at all.
"We say we need to unite this country, but then we isolate every group," said Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., who was among several from the conservative Freedom Caucus who voted against it.
What's next:
The turn of events puts at risk the long effort to open a museum in Washington dedicated to women. Legislation authorizing the museum was approved during Trump's first term, in 2020, and this latest bill would secure its location on the National Mall. Trump has taken interest in reshaping the capital's cultural institutions, from the Kennedy Center to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
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At the start of the year, the bill had secured some 230 sponsors, a rare show of bipartisanship in the split House, where Republicans hold a slim majority. But because of the changes to the bill, the Democratic Women's Caucus opposed the final version, and Democratic leaders encouraged a no vote.
Dig deeper:
Initially presented as a step toward securing the museum's location, the legislation was revised during a committee vote last month in several ways.
One change added a mission scope that states, "The Museum shall be dedicated to preserving, researching, and presenting the history, achievements, and lived experiences of biological women in the United States."
It also adds a prohibition which states, "The Museum may not identify, present, describe, or otherwise depict any biological male as a female."
Another change added specific detail 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 site for the Museum within 180 days of the date of the enactment of this subsection."
Democrats said that the provision change gives Trump the authority to decide where the museum would ultimately go. "And we do not agree with that," said Leger Fernandez.
But Republicans argued that the provision is simply a fail-safe in the event there's any problem with the proposed site to ensure the museum can move ahead.
An additional revision this week removed the word "diversity," saying instead the museum's organizing council should ensure a "range" of political viewpoints and experiences.
"I just think it’s ridiculous that we are arguing over this," said Malliotakis.
She said it's bothering Democrats that it will be Trump who breaks ground on the museum, "but that’s the reality."
The Source: The Associated Press contributed to this report. The story is based on proceedings and statements made during debate and voting in the U.S. House of Representatives over legislation to establish the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum. This story was reported from Los Angeles.