WASHINGTON — About the only thing former President Ronald Reagan doesn’t have named after him is a mountain, not one recognized by the federal government anyway.
Now, Republican Rep. Joe Heck of Nevada is pushing a bill that would name a part of Frenchman Mountain, located just east of Las Vegas, after the nation’s 40th president.
The House Natural Resources Committee approved Heck’s bill by voice vote Wednesday, but not before some Democrats on the committee had fun with the issue.
Democratic Rep. Pete DeFazio of Oregon said a more fitting tribute would be to name Yucca Mountain after Reagan. Steps taken to develop Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste repository accelerated during Reagan’s presidency. Members of Nevada’s congressional delegation have worked diligently to kill it.
“If we were going to name something after the president, it ought to be something that actually had to do with the president’s service in office, and something the president supported that was extraordinarily significant to the state of Nevada,” DeFazio said.
Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., said he thought DeFazio’s amendment was “terrific” but wanted to take it a step further and name the planet after Reagan.
“We may want to consider going big with this Reagan-naming enthusiasm,” Huffman said. “I’m beginning to see some possibilities in this.”
Huffman said his reasoning was that if the planet were named after Reagan, then Republicans might be more concerned with taking up legislation dealing with global warming.
Republican members of the committee played along.
“If the gentleman would introduce legislation, I would guarantee that he’ll have a hearing on that bill,” said Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Washington, the chairman, in response to Huffman’s idea for renaming the earth.
The committee then rejected DeFazio’s amendment and went on to pass the bill.
Republicans likely will push the bill through when it comes up for a vote on the House floor. But the Senate is another story.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada controls the Senate floor schedule. Asked whether Reid supports or opposes the measure, his spokeswoman, Kristen Orthman said: “He has higher priority land bills for Nevada that he would bring up” for a vote.