House follows Trump’s lead with vote to change Gulf of Mexico to ‘Gulf of America’

Washington: The Republican-led House passed a bill Thursday that would rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America and direct federal agencies to update their documents and maps to incorporate the new name.

President Donald Trump already signed an executive order during his first day in office to rename the Gulf. House Republicans are looking to show their support, though it is unclear whether he Senate will go along. The bill passed by a vote of 211-206.

The body of water has shared borders between the United States and Mexico. Trump’s order only carries authority within the US, Mexico, as well as other countries and international bodies, do not have to recognise the name change.

Democrats said the vote demonstrated that Republicans are not focusing on the priorities of most Americans. New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the House’s top Democrat, asked Democrats to vote against this “silly, small-minded and sycophantic piece of legislation.”

“It’s easy to mock this legislation because it’s so inane and embarrassing — and we have,” said Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pa. “But it’s very existence and the fact that House Republicans have chosen to waste time and taxpayer dollars to bring it up for a vote, is worth considering.” Republicans said the nomenclature of the Gulf extended back to a time before the US existed and when Spanish influence over Central American and the Caribbean was at its zenith. But now, it is the US that dominates economic activity in the Gulf.

“In short, this legislation recognises the strategic influence America has over this geography, not to mention the existing economic, cultural, and commercial might that we passively exert on the Gulf,” said Rep. Virginia

Foxx, R-N.C.