Reschenthaler wants to rename Washington, D.C., airport after Donald Trump
Casey backs limiting overdraft fees; Fetterman helping other candidates
WASHINGTON Trump Tower. Trump Park Avenue. Trump Palace. Trump Plaza. Trump Turnberry. How about Trump International Airport?
That’s what a handful of diehard backers of former President Donald Trump want as the new name of Washington Dulles International Airport.
Led by U.S. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Peters — the chief House deputy whip who has called Mr. Trump the best U.S. chief executive since Abraham Lincoln — the proposal won’t go anywhere in this Congress, where Democrats control the Senate and even some Republicans have been critical of the former president.
But the move, which casts the twice-impeached Mr. Trump’s four years in office as worthy of the same honor bestowed upon former President Ronald Reagan, provides another example of how congressional Republicans have been eager to show support for their presumptive 2024 presidential nominee.
Earlier this year, House Republicans voted to launch an impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden even as they admitted they didn’t yet have evidence showing “high crimes and misdemeanors,” rejected candidates for House speaker whom Mr. Trump disapproved of, and refused to consider a bipartisan bill strengthening border security and providing aid to Ukraine and Israel after the former president told them to reject it.
Six of the seven lawmakers proposing to rename the airport, including Mr. —Reschenthaler, tried to overturn Mr. Trump’s 2020 election loss. The seventh wasn’t electedto Congress until 2022.
“In my lifetime, our nation has never been greater than under the leadership of President Donald J. Trump,” Mr. Reschenthaler said. “As millions of domestic and international travelers fly through the airport, there is no better symbol of freedom, prosperity, and strength than hearing ‘ Welcome to Trump International Airport’ as they land on American soil.”
The airport, which celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2022, was named after former Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, who heavily influenced U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War. A hardline anti-communist known for his “massive retaliation” deterrence strategy, Mr. Dulles helped advance defense pacts in Europe, Southeast Asia and the Middle East while playing roles in the United States’ intervention in several countries, including Iran and Guatemala.
During Mr. Trump’s presidency, members of his administrationworried that he would pull the U.S. out of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. He has drawn criticism from Mr. Biden and the international community this time around for continuing to attack NATO allies he says are not spending enough on defense.
Mr. Trump said in February that Russia could do “whatever the hell they want” to those NATO members.
“No, I would not protect you,” he said he told one leader of a NATO nation if it did not increase defense spending.
Casey backs rule to limit overdraft fees
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, DPa., has endorsed a proposed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule to limit overdraft banking penalties.
Ina letter to the bureau’s director, Rohit Chopra, Mr. Casey objected to banks routinely charging $35 overdraft fees even though most overdrafts are for small amounts, are repaid quickly, and do not costthe banks $35 to process.
“Large corporate banks should be expected to provide their customers with transparent information about the services they offer and to charge fees that are in proportion to the actual costs the fees are covering,” Mr. Casey wrote.
Fetterman is raising money for Democrats
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman has been actively fundraising even though he doesn’t face the voters before 2028. But the money is not always for him.
Mr. Fetterman endorsed U.S. Rep. Andy Kim, D-N.J., to succeed indicted U.S. Sen.
Robert Menendez, D-N.J., and helped him raise money.
And now he’s doing the same for North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, who is running for governor to succeed term-limited Democrat Roy Cooper.
Mr. Fetterman’s fundraising email for Mr. Stein took aim at the Republican nominee, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who has questioned the Holocaust and called abortion “genocide.”
Wrote Fetterman: “Robinson is the conspiracy theorist + far-right extremist at the top of the ticket for NC’s GOP in November…. Mark Robinson is literally one of the most extreme statewide
-elected Republicans in the country.”