Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) on Monday night blocked a bipartisan effort to prevent the Trump administration from demolishing the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts without congressional approval.
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) attempted to pass the Protecting Presidential Memorials Act, a bill he co-led with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), by unanimous consent. The measure would prohibit the demolition of any federally authorized memorial honoring a U.S. president without an act of Congress.
The bill would cover the Kennedy Center as well as other presidential memorials, including the Lincoln Memorial and Jefferson Memorial.
Unanimous consent is a Senate procedure that allows legislation to pass without a roll-call vote when no senator objects. Lee objected, blocking the measure from advancing.
“Democrats should join us in lowering the cost of living and securing American elections instead of wasting the Senate’s time with partisan scaremongering they haven’t even tried to run through the appropriate committee process,” Lee told the Washington Examiner.
But Merkley defended the measure, calling it a “common-sense bill.”
“Our congressionally authorized memorials to former presidents are a tribute to their accomplishments and service to our nation,” Merkley said in a press release. “Perhaps the greatest living memorial for a president is the Kennedy Center, in honor of our slain president who championed the arts.”
Merkley accused President Donald Trump of attempting to dismantle the Kennedy Center without congressional authorization.
“First, he destroyed its programming, and now, he wants to destroy the building itself,” Merkley said. “All because the law says Trump can’t put his name on the building.”
The dispute over the Kennedy Center has been ongoing for months. Trump took control of the institution’s board of trustees last year and was subsequently elected chairman. His administration then moved to remake the center’s leadership, programming, and branding.
The Kennedy Center’s board voted last year to add Trump’s name to the building, renaming it the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in December 2025, sparking a monthslong legal and political battle.
A judge ultimately blocked Trump from adding his name to the building in any form earlier this month.
The Trump administration has also faced accusations that it could seek to demolish the Kennedy Center. Those concerns intensified after an image circulated showing Trump reading a large placard aboard Air Force One that said “Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED.”
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A federal judge has subsequently ordered the Trump administration to provide 30 days’ advance notice to the court before taking steps toward demolishing the Kennedy Center.
Merkley and Murkowski have particular oversight of the institution as the ranking member and chairwoman, respectively, of the Senate Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, which oversees federal funding for the Kennedy Center.