Latest / GNN Daily Breaking News / Bipartisan members of Congress move to block demolition of Kennedy Center

Transcript

Bipartisan members of Congress move to block demolition of Kennedy Center · GNN Daily Breaking News

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: A bipartisan coalition of federal lawmakers introduced landmark legislation designed
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: to explicitly prohibit the unauthorized demolition or structural alteration of
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: federally funded presidential memorials, directly targeting White House threats to
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: raise the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Spearheaded in the Senate by Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley and
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, the ranking member and chairwoman, respectively,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: of the Senate Interior Environment Appropriations Subcommittee. The Protecting Presidential
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Memorials Act establishes that any permanent structural modification, partial teardown,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: or complete removal of designated presidential monuments requires explicit authorization
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: through an act of Congress. A companion measure was simultaneously
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: filed in the House of Representatives in reflecting mounting congressional
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: alarm over executive assertions of unilateral authority over national cultural institutions.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: The legislative push follows months of heightened friction between the
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: executive branch, federal courts, and Congress regarding the governance and
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: physical integrity of the nation's performing arts center. Tensions escalated
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: after executive officials proposed extensive structural changes, including replacing the
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: facility with an open-air riverfront amphitheater, and attempted to append
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: the current president's name to the historic building's facade, a
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: move subsequently halted by a federal judicial order. While administration
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: representatives point to deferred maintenance backlogs and structural, whereas justification
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: for sweeping physical interventions, congressional leaders emphasize that lawmakers previously
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: allocated $ 257 million specifically for facility repairs. maintaining that executive
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: disagreements over site branding or governance do not grant authority
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: to dismantle living presidential memorials. Despite securing broad bipartisan sponsorship
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: across both legislative chambers, immediate passage of the Senate measure
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: faced procedural hurdles when Republican Senator Mike Lee lodged a
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: formal objection to a unanimous consent request, temporarily stalling fast-track approval.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Sponsoring lawmakers immediately pledged to pursue standard committee pathways and
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: roll call floor votes to enact the protections into statutory law.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: As federal district courts continue reviewing ongoing administrative challenges regarding
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: the facility, the legislative battle reinforces a major constitutional clash
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: over congressional spending authority, historical preservation, and the structural limits
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: of executive control over public assets.