The House Appropriations Committee approved an amendment Tuesday that would name the famed opera house at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., after first lady Melania Trump.
The committee voted 33-25 to approve the amendment to the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies annual spending bill that would rename the opera house as the “First Lady Melania Trump Opera House,” The Hill reported.
With more than 2,300 seats, the opera house is the second-largest theater at the Kennedy Center and often plays host to its headline performances.
Soon after Inauguration Day, President Donald Trump fired members of the board of the D.C. cultural landmark and named himself the center’s chair, railing against the center holding events such as drag shows and “anti-American propaganda.” He named Richard Grenell interim president, and Grenell told Newsmax in March that Trump tasked him with making the center “the premier arts institution in the United States. And there’s no reason why it can’t be.”
The bill would provide $37 million in appropriations to the Kennedy Center, a 17% decrease from last year, The Washington Post reported Tuesday. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act allocated more than $256 million for the center through the end of the 2029 fiscal year “for necessary expenses for capital repair, restoration, maintenance backlog, and security structures of the building and site.”
“This is an excellent way to recognize [Melania Trump’s] support and commitment to promoting the arts, and I would encourage members to vote for this Republican en bloc amendment,” said Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, the Post reported. Simpson is chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies who proposed the amendment.
Newsmax reached out to a spokesperson for the first lady for comment.
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