Republican Introduces Bill To Rename Greenland ‘Red, White And Blueland’

WASHINGTON ― Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) has made a strong entry in the competition among Republicans in Congress to flatter President Donald Trump with symbolic legislation.

Carter introduced a bill Tuesday that would authorize President Donald Trump to purchase Greenland and rename it “Red, White and Blueland.”

Seriously!

“America is back and will soon be bigger than ever with the addition of Red, White, and Blueland,” Carter said in a statement. “President Trump has correctly identified the purchase of what is now Greenland as a national security priority, and we will proudly welcome its people to join the freest nation to ever exist when our Negotiator-in-Chief inks this monumental deal.”

Like most bills introduced, Carter’s legislation will likely not become law. Instead, it joins the growing list of proposals that turn the legislative process into a vehicle for self-promotion and flattery toward the Republican Party’s leader.

So far this year, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) introduced legislation to add Trump’s face to Mount Rushmore. Rep. Addison McDowell (R-N.C.) pushed a bill to rename Washington Dulles International Airport after Trump. Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) introduced a bill to amend the Constitution so Trump could serve a third term after his current one. (Not only would that bill need to get through Congress, but a majority of state legislatures as well.)

Purchasing Greenland from Denmark has never been a Republican priority, but Trump has mentioned it a few times, so Carter has rushed in to declare Trump was right all along. A similar pattern played out with some of Trump’s other novel policy ideas, such as cutting taxes on tips.

Meanwhile, Republicans are struggling to coalesce around a major domestic policy bill that would extend tax cuts and make major cuts to safety net programs like Medicaid. On Tuesday, lawmakers squabbled over how much they would allow themselves to add to the federal budget deficit, with Ways and Means chair Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.) complaining that $4.5 trillion was too small a figure, that it should be at least $4.7 trillion. Without a higher number, there’s no way Republicans can cut taxes on tips.

Smith told reporters, “Anything less would be saying that President Trump is wrong on tax policy.”

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