The body of water long known as the Gulf of Mexico may soon be referred to as the “Gulf of America” in Alabama after receiving partisan approval Tuesday in the Alabama House of Representatives.
The name change would reflect one of President Donald Trump’s first executive orders while in office, and Rep. David Standridge, R-Hayden, said on the floor Tuesday that is one of the primary drivers of enacting the change at the state level.
The body of water is still known as the Gulf of Mexico internationally.
Rep. Phillip Ensler, D-Montgomery, challenged Standridge on how the bill actually improves the quality of life for Alabamians.
Rep. Reed Ingram, R-Montgomery, argued that the United States was established before Mexico, but that regardless the name “Gulf of America” names the body of water after the continent that frames its shores rather than a single country.
But Rep. Chip Brown, R-Mobile, supported the name change as promoting “American exceptionalism.”
“It emphasizes the greatness of America, the greatest country in the world,” Brown said. “(The U.S.) won two world wars, won two gold medals in hockey the other day. No offense to Mexico—but it can’t compare to the greatness that is the United States of America.”
The bill passed the House on a vote of 74-30 along party lines. It now moves to the Senate for further consideration.
