(The Center Square) – Changing the name to Donald J. Trump International Airport from Dulles International Airport has been proposed by a freshman congressman from North Carolina.
Rep. Addison McDowell, the 31-year-old Republican from the state’s 6th Congressional District, introduced the bill Thursday along with Reps. Brian Jack, R-Ga., Riley Moore, R-W.V., Brandon Gill, R-Texas, and Guy Reschenthaler, R-Penn.
“It is only right that the two airports servicing our nation’s capital are duly honored and respected by two of the best presidents to have the honor of serving our great nation,” McDowell said.
Dulles International and Reagan National are major airports serving the District of Columbia, Maryland and Northern Virginia. The former is named for Josh Foster Dulles, secretary of state under Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953-59. More than 26 million passengers used Dulles in the 12 months ending in November, according to the latest statistics available.
The then-$108.3 million airport, on 10,000 acres of Loudoun and Fairfax counties in Virginia, was dedicated Nov. 17, 1962. Another 830 acres were acquired 20 years ago.
Jack said the effort “to ‘cancel’ President Trump during his post-presidency” is rightly countered by the bill to “enshrine President Trump’s legacy.”
“This legislation will cement his status in our nation’s capital as our fearless commander-in-chief, extraordinary leader, and relentless champion for the American people,” Reschenthaler said in a release from McDowell’s office.
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, smaller in gates 113 to 58 than Dulles, is on 860 acres in Virginia. Opening in 1941 as National Airport, Democratic two-term President Bill Clinton on Feb. 6, 1998, signed the legislation authored by Sen. Paul Coverdell, R-Ga., renaming it for the nation’s 40th president.
Reagan National also checked more than 26 million passengers in the 12 months ending in November. The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority reported 53.1 million total between the two.