The News
A years-long, bipartisan effort in Congress to build a women’s history Smithsonian museum is expected to end Thursday evening in a vote with little to no support from Democrats, who argue Republican changes to the bill will give President Donald Trump undue influence.
“Republicans ruined an overwhelmingly bipartisan bill to appeal to Trump’s already over-inflated ego,” Rep. Mark Takano, chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, said in a statement to Semafor.
Congress officially authorized the creation of the museum in 2020 with broad support from both parties. The vote Thursday was supposed to be technical — a land-use measure to establish a building site, proposed by the Smithsonian, just off the National Mall, near the Holocaust Museum.
But language was added to the measure in committee in March that gives Trump the power to override the Smithsonian’s preferred location, and select an alternative site within 180 days of the bill’s passage. It also requires the Commission of Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission, headed by boards selected by Trump, to approve the location.
“The amended version Republicans are advancing takes away authorities that have previously been the responsibility of the Smithsonian Board of Regents, and gives them to either the president or one of his handpicked boards,” Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., said in a statement to Semafor.
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The View From Democrats
Democrats argue the changes give Trump leverage to interfere with the substance of the museum, and they accused Republicans of allowing the White House to do so already.
“These changes were made unilaterally, with no outreach or negotiations with Democrats,” Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., said in a statement to Semafor.
Trump lauded Republicans yesterday for adding language to specify the museum would focus on the history and experiences of “biological women” and barring the museum from depicting “any biological male as a female.”
“Republicans just couldn’t help themselves from adding text to this bill to prohibit the inclusion of transgender women in the museum,” Takano said.
The Democratic Women’s Caucus formally pulled its support for the bill Monday. “One man should not dictate what women’s history looks like,” Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, D-N.M., chair of the caucus, told Semafor in a statement.
The View From Republicans
Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis of New York, who introduced the bill, rejected Democrats’ claims that Trump would influence museum programming. “They’re saying all sorts of things that are simply not true about the president’s ability to control content,” she told Semafor in an interview.
She also defended the “biological women” provision, arguing it was intended to ensure the museum remained focused on women’s history.
“I don’t understand why that has caused all the Democrats to pull their support. And I think it’s unfortunate because it’s a very bipartisan piece of legislation,” Malliotakis added. “For them to not support it simply because there’s clarification that it’s biological women only when it’s a women’s history museum does not make sense to me.”
In a news conference Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson echoed Malliotakis’ view.
“The addition of the word ‘biological’ made them all run for the hills. I mean, if that’s controversial in the Democratic Party, we’re in serious trouble,” Johnson said. “The party that purports to support women demanding that the museum include biological men.”