Republicans advance bill to formally rename 'Gulf of America'

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The House approved a bill to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America.
• Introduced by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, it passed 211-206 along party lines.
• The bill now heads to the Senate, with uncertain Democratic support for passage.

WASHINGTON — The House advanced a proposal to formally rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America in all federal documents, marking the first of President Donald Trump's executive orders to be voted on by Congress.

Lawmakers voted 211-206 along party lines to approve the Gulf of America Act, which was introduced by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., earlier this year. The bill would require federal agencies to adopt the name change and refer to the Gulf of America in any "law, map, regulation, document, paper, or other record."

All four Utah Republican members of Congress — Reps. Blake Moore, Celeste Maloy, Burgess Owens and Mike Kennedy — voted in favor of the legislation.

"OUR military defends its waters, OUR business owners support its economy, & the AMERICAN PEOPLE fund its protection," Greene said in a post on X after the bill passed. "This is one of President Trump's MANY executive orders that needs to be codified into law. I now urge my colleagues in the Senate to pass this bill and send it straight to President Trump's desk!"

The bill passed with nearly unanimous Republican support, with only one GOP lawmaker voting against: Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon.

The bill now heads to the Senate, where it's unclear if it can gain enough Democratic support to pass.

The Gulf of America Act comes in response to an executive order issued by Trump on his first day in office to formally rename the oceanic basin situated in the southeast region of the country. Trump cited the gulf's "flourishing" economic advantages as a main reason to rename the gulf, arguing it holds "critical importance to our Nation's economy and its people."

Still, the proposed name change has not been without controversy.

Shortly after Trump's executive order was issued, The Associated Press announced it would continue with its traditional style to refer to the basin as the Gulf of Mexico, although the outlet noted it would mention Trump's order.

However, the Trump administration denounced that style decision, even going so far as to block The Associated Press from covering White House events inside the Oval Office and on Air Force One.

A judge has since ruled that The Associated Press' access must be restored but the Trump administration has appealed that ruling.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

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Cami Mondeaux