As Republicans embark on their monthlong sprint to meet the September deadline to avoid a government shutdown, GOP lawmakers are looking to give President Donald Trump another opportunity to rebrand a long-standing government institution in patented, Trumpian fashion.
Congress is expected to vote this week on one of its 12 appropriations bills to fund the government for Fiscal Year 2026 and avoid a shutdown.
This latest bill — relating to the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and their respective agencies — would also change the name of AmeriCorps to “the America First Corps” to reflect the agency’s core mission of funding organizations that place Americans at the center of service initiatives.
AmeriCorps is an independent government agency with a stated mission “to improve lives, strengthen communities, and foster civic engagement through service and volunteering,” which has been a previous target of Trump.
In April, the president’s Department of Government Efficiency placed roughly three-fourths of all AmeriCorps employees on leave and paused hundreds of millions in funding to the agency, though Trump’s Office of Management and Budget unfroze $184 million previously designated for AmeriCorps earlier this week following a court challenge.
White House officials declined to say whether the president or his top aides made the name change request or whether it originated on Capitol Hill.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) said in a statement that the Labor-HHS-Education funding bill will help strengthen “programs that deliver real results for the American people.”
This isn’t the first time that Trump and Republicans have sought to use rebrands or other language changes to advance the president’s agenda — or even flat-out name things after him.
On his first day in office, the president signed an executive order directing all federal agencies to begin referring to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
“It is in the national interest to promote the extraordinary heritage of our Nation and ensure future generations of American citizens celebrate the legacy of our American heroes,” the order text reads. “The naming of our national treasures, including breathtaking natural wonders and historic works of art, should honor the contributions of visionary and patriotic Americans in our Nation’s rich past.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) would then introduce legislation codifying the name change, but the bill has since stalled in the Senate after passing the House along partisan lines.
Also in January, Rep. Addison McDowell (R-NC) proposed renaming Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia, named after former Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, to Donald J. International Airport, while Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) introduced a bill that would add Trump to the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota.
Trump performed some mental gymnastics in June by restoring the names of seven military bases changed by former President Joe Biden following a 2020 nationwide push to tear down statues and rename buildings and locations honoring Confederate heroes.
“That’s the name, and Fort Bragg it shall always remain. That’s never going to be happening again,” he declared during a June 10 speech celebrating the Army’s 250th anniversary at Fort Bragg. “We are also going to be restoring the names to Fort Pickett, Fort Hood, Fort Gordon, Fort Rucker, Fort Polk, Fort AP Hill, and Fort Robert E. Lee.”
The president has similarly hinted at soon reverting the Department of Defense to the Department of War, the name the Cabinet’s military department bore from 1789 until 1947.
In July, Rep. Bob Onder (R-MO) introduced the “Make Entertainment Great Again Act,” legislation that would, among other things, rename Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts the “Donald J. Trump Center for the Performing Arts.” Just days prior, Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID) amended a separate FY26 appropriations bill so that the Kennedy Center’s Opera House would be renamed in honor of first lady Melania Trump.
This past Tuesday, while joining Trump in the Oval Office to announce that the U.S. Space Force Command would move from Colorado to Alabama, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) suggested the new headquarters be called the “Donald J. Trump Space Command Center.”
Furthermore, the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” the tax cuts and spending package Trump signed into law on July 4, gives the president two more opportunities to play brander-in-chief.
Nestled into the text, Republicans included a provision establishing new retirement funds called “Trump Accounts” for children of U.S. citizens born between 2025 and 2028. The federal government will deposit $1,000 into each account, with parents and others allowed to contribute up to $5,000 a year until the child reaches 18 years old.
However, just two months after signing OBBB into law, Trump wants to rebrand the megabill to boost Republicans ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
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“I’m not going to use the term, ‘great, big, beautiful,’ that was good for getting it approved, but it’s not good for explaining to people what it’s all about,” the president told reporters during a marathon Cabinet meeting at the White House last week.
Trump’s push to rebrand the massive budget legislation has already been accepted by House Republicans, with several members touting the bill on social media as the “working families tax cut plan.”