[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 11781-11782]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



          REJECT RENAMING OF NATIONAL AIRPORT IN METRO SYSTEM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Moran) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, tomorrow this House is scheduled 
to consider the transportation appropriation bill. Within that bill 
there is a provision requiring that the local governments in the 
Washington, D.C. area spend hundreds of thousands of dollars of their 
own money to add the name of Ronald Reagan to the Metro system every 
place it says National Airport.
  Now, the local governments have the authority to do this. When a 
local government requests a name change, the name of the Metro station 
within its jurisdiction is changed. That deference to local government 
is really one of the principal things that Ronald Reagan stood for. But 
this body, deciding that it did not like the fact that the local 
government had resisted adding those two additional names, is now going 
to require them to do so, even though this is not a Federal facility. 
It gets only 6 percent Federal money, 94 percent of which comes from 
the riders of the Metro system.
  So we ought to ask ourselves, do principles only apply when it is 
convenient, when it suits our politics; or do we vote consistently with 
principles like deferring to the sovereignty of local governments in 
opposition to unfunded Federal mandates? Because this is what this is, 
an unfunded Federal mandate. It would not be done in other 
congressional districts, but we are going to be doing it over the 
opposition of this local government and the regional authority. We are 
going to do it out of what I can only consider to be partisan petty 
politics.
  We greatly regret the fact that Ronald Reagan today is suffering from 
Alzheimer's disease. But I know, and I particularly regret it for one 
reason because I know that if he were able to, he would adamantly 
insist the Congress not do this to his name. George Will wrote an 
editorial making this point: he quoted Cato, the famous Roman, who made 
the point that he would rather have people asking why is this place not 
named after Cato, than asking why did they name this coliseum or 
facility after Cato. In other words, modesty ought to be a hallmark of 
great people. Resistance to arrogance. Yet that is what this provision 
is. It is an arrogant Federal imposition upon the will of local 
government.
  Local government did not resist adding the name out of resentment of 
Ronald Reagan, although they certainly resent the fact that they were 
never consulted when they changed the name of the airport from George 
Washington's honor to Ronald Reagan. Because it is on the very road 
that leads to George Washington's home. George Washington's family 
owned the land that National Airport was built on. In fact, Franklin 
Roosevelt, when the main terminal was constructed, had it constructed 
to resemble Mount Vernon. So if they had been consulted, they would 
have said, well, we really think it should be continued to be named 
after George Washington since Ronald Reagan never used this airport. It 
did not offer transcontinental flights. He used Andrews Air Force Base 
when he was President. So they resent that.



  But that is not why they resisted this. They resisted because it does 
not make practical sense. You cannot fit four long names, Ronald Reagan 
National Airport, on the literature. But most importantly, all the 
stations are named after places, not after people. When some people 
wanted to honor Robert Kennedy by naming the Metro station at the RFK 
Stadium after Robert Kennedy, the Metro Board likewise resisted. They 
said, no, we name them after places, we will name it Stadium

[[Page 11782]]

Armory, not after an individual. Likewise, this metro station should be 
named National Airport.
  Now, many people will think this is a petty picayune issue, but it is 
a principle. We voted unanimously against unfunded Federal mandates. 
This is an unfunded Federal mandate. That principle should be 
preserved, and so should respect for local government wishes.
  Mr. Speaker, this Congress should reject this language that purports 
to honor Ronald Reagan, but actually defiles his legacy.

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