(The Center Square) – The Nashville International Airport will keep its name and not be named after the president.
The Tennessee House Transportation Committee rejected the renaming of the airport to Trump International Airport in a bipartisan 12-5 vote.
Republicans had two reasons for rejecting House Bill 217. The first was the bill’s fiscal note, which said it could cost up to more than $10 million to change the name.
“This is basically an unfunded mandate and I’ve always been opposed to unfunded mandates,” said Committee Chairman Dan Howell, R-Cleveland.
Other committee members said they were reluctant to remove Col. Harry Berry’s name from the airport. Berry is the “B” in BNA, the airport’s three letter code name, and was the state administrator of Tennessee’s Works Progress Administration, which built the airport.
Rep. Todd Warner, R-Chapel Hill, said he could only find two people who knew knew why the airport is named BNA.
Trump had never said he wanted the airport named after him, Warner said in response to a question from Rep. Lowell Russell, R-Vonore. Warner said he spoke to the Trump administration, and they had no issue with the name change.
House Speaker Pro Tem Pat Marsh, R-Shelbyville, reiterated comments he made in a subcommittee.
“BNA is not big enough to have the name President Trump,” Marsh said.
The Senate version of the bill, sponsored by Rep. Joey Hensley, R-Hohenwald, is on Wednesday’s Transportation and Safety Committee calendar.
