The U.S. House on Thursday rejected legislation that would have secured a site on the National Mall for a new Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum, turning what had been promoted as a widely backed effort into a party-line fight. The bill lost 204-216, and lawmakers offered competing explanations for why the House could not move forward on the museum’s location.
Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, a Democrat from New Mexico, said earlier in the week that “It was a simple bill. You kind of ruined it with your trans obsession and your culture wars,” as the measure drew intense debate over what the exhibits would include. Republicans argued that Democrats were overreacting and warned that opposition to the revised bill threatened progress on a women’s museum in Washington.
The chief sponsor, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis of New York, said it was “a disgrace” that Democrats were blocking passage. Malliotakis also said that Democrats’ stance suggested “the party that is opposing a women’s history museum on the National Mall because they want to have transgender exhibits — maybe they are the ones who are trans obsessed.”
In the final tally, Democrats led the opposition while a handful of Republicans voted against the measure, leaving the chamber in a standstill as GOP leaders sought additional support. Some of the Republican opponents opposed the concept of a museum focused on women, according to the reporting, including Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee, who said the House had to “unite this country,” but “then we isolate every group.”
The bill’s defeat put at risk the long effort to open a museum in Washington dedicated to women’s history. Legislation authorizing the museum was approved during Trump’s first term in 2020, and the most recent bill was intended to secure the museum’s location on the National Mall, with Trump also described as taking interest in reshaping other cultural institutions.
The Democratic Women’s Caucus said the changes sent the measure in the wrong direction. In a statement, caucus leaders said, “A museum about women, fought for and supported by women, should not be controlled by one man,” and argued that Republicans “traded the representation of women for Trump’s gain and ego,” calling it “as embarrassing as it is disappointing.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson said the changes should not be controversial, and he framed the final bill as reaffirming an “objective truth” about what a museum for women should showcase. Nonetheless, his effort to pass the bill with Republicans alone failed as Democrats remained unified in opposing the revised legislation.
During debate, Rep. Kat Cammack, a Florida Republican, brought her young daughter, Augusta, to the chamber to see history being made, and said, “Biological women deserve to have their stories told.” Rep. Joe Morelle of New York, the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, said Republicans had abandoned the bipartisan approach in favor of a version aligned with Trump’s White House.
Democrats also said the bill’s amendments changed its scope and governance in ways that raised concerns about who would ultimately decide the museum’s direction. One revision added a mission scope stating the museum would be dedicated to preserving, researching, and presenting the history, achievements, and lived experiences of “biological women” in the United States. The same revision also added a prohibition saying the museum may not “identify, present, describe, or otherwise depict any biological male as a female.”
Another revision added specific location language placing the museum near 14th Street Southwest and Jefferson Drive on the National Mall, but it included a provision stating that “the President may designate an alternative site for the Museum within 180 days of the date of the enactment of this subsection.” Democrats said that would give Trump authority over where the museum would ultimately go, and Leger Fernandez said, “And we do not agree with that.” Republicans countered that the provision was a fail-safe to allow the museum to move ahead if there were any problem with the proposed site.
A further revision removed the word “diversity” and replaced it with language stating the museum’s organizing council should ensure a “range” of political viewpoints and experiences, according to the reporting. Malliotakis said it was “ridiculous” that lawmakers were arguing over the change, and she said it was unsettling to Democrats that Trump would break ground on the museum. The AP reported that the final vote left the museum’s next steps uncertain.