Bipartisan bill would block Kennedy Center demolition
House and Senate Interior appropriators advanced the Protecting Presidential Memorials Act to require an act of Congress before demolishing the Kennedy Center or other presidential memorials. Sen. Mike Lee blocked a unanimous-consent try. The bill is process, not yet law.
Bipartisan appropriators moved to fence off the Kennedy Center from unilateral demolition. Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), ranking members of the House and Senate Interior-Environment Appropriations subcommittees, unveiled the Protecting Presidential Memorials Act, Pingree’s office said. The short bill would bar demolition of any congressionally designated presidential memorial — including the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Memorial, and Jefferson Memorial — unless Congress authorizes it.
Merkley and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) co-led the Senate measure. Merkley tried to pass it by unanimous consent; Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) blocked that effort, Reuters and the Washington Post report. The Washington Examiner reported Lee blocked that request and said Democrats should work on the cost of living and elections instead of what he called partisan scaremongering. Sponsors say President Donald Trump threatened to “rip down” the living memorial to John F. Kennedy unless his name is added. A federal judge has already ordered at least 30 days’ notice before demolition steps. Congress has also approved about $257 million more for deferred maintenance. Trump told Time he was “not committing to anything” and would “see how it plays out in court.”
Congress created the National Cultural Center in 1958, renamed it for Kennedy after his assassination, and opened it in 1971 as a living memorial tied to public arts access. For arts patrons and D.C. workers around the Potomac campus, the stake is whether a presidential memorial can be erased by executive fiat. Sponsors are eyeing must-pass year-end legislation after the UC block. Watch whether the text attaches to Interior funding and whether Lee maintains his hold.
What we know:
Bipartisan Protecting Presidential Memorials Act introduced; Lee blocked UC passage; bill would require Congress before demolishing designated presidential memorials.
What we don’t:
Whether the bill reaches a floor vote, survives as a rider, or changes any ongoing facilities plans at the Kennedy Center.
Where outlets agree Pingree’s office, Reuters, the Washington Post, and the Washington Examiner agree a bipartisan bill would require an act of Congress before the Kennedy Center can be demolished.
Where they differ Sponsors cast the bill as protecting memorials from executive whims while Trump has refused to commit to leaving the building standing without his preferred naming outcome.