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House Democrats unanimously voted against legislation Thursday that would direct the construction of a new women’s history museum on the National Mall.
Democrats sought to defeat the bill after Republicans limited the agency to transgender women and excluded transgender people.
The measure was reached in a 204-216 vote after a number of conservative GOP lawmakers joined Democrats in taking up legislation that would have protected the site of the upcoming Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum on the Mall.
Dissident Republicans are opposing the move out of concern over whether a women’s history museum is needed, a familiar source told Fox News Digital, pointing to the representation of women in the Smithsonian’s American History Museum.
The Conservatives also opposed the bill out of concern that it failed to add protections for left-wing content from the centre.
Members of the Democratic Women’s Caucus, led by Chairwoman Teresa Leger Fernandez, DN.M., voted against bipartisan legislation that acquires a site for the Smithsonian’s future women’s history museum on the National Mall. (Kenny Holston-Pool/Getty Images)
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It is not clear whether the Republican leadership will try to bring this legislation to a vote later. Eight Republicans did not vote.
Democrats’ broad opposition to the legislation comes after the Democratic Women’s Caucus issued a statement last month accusing Republicans of targeting “transgender women and girls” with an amendment that would define the museum around natural women.
Feminist lawmakers have argued that the museum is expected to be out of date, but said they could not support the legislation as it added language on women’s biology, which many called a “poison pill.”
“The museum will be dedicated to preserving, researching, and presenting the history, achievements and lived experiences of natural women in the United States,” the amended measure, written by Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., said in part.
The museum may not display “any natural male person as a female,” it continues, citing language from Trump’s executive order issued in 2025 that bans the inclusion of transgender people in future museums.
“The addition of the word biological sent everyone running for the hills,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said at a press conference Wednesday. “If that is controversial in the Democratic Party, we are in big trouble. A party that aims to support women, wants the museum to include natural men.”
The Democrats’ decision to withdraw support for the museum measure comes as the party has continued to champion transgender rights despite questions about whether those views contributed to its poor performance in the 2024 election. Many Democrats also continue to face GOP scrutiny over providing a definition of “feminist.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said the inclusion of language barring a museum to natural women is making Democrats “run for the hills.” (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
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Democratic lawmakers also criticized amended language in the bill that gives the president the authority to choose an “alternative” within 180 days of enactment.
“They amended the bill to give Trump and his allies unbridled power over what content and which women can be included in the museum, and the location of the museum,” said Democratic Women’s Caucus Chair Teresa Leger Fernandez, DN.M., in a joint statement earlier this week with other Democratic women lawmakers. “A museum about women, fought for and supported by women, should not be controlled by one man.”
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, RN.Y., sponsor of the museum’s measure, accused Democrats of “hiding” that reason to avoid addressing the transgender provision.
“A women’s history museum should be dedicated to women, period,” Malliotakis told Fox News. “And the fact that they’re going to support it after heavily sponsoring this bill because the word biological was included, to me is strange.”
“They will have to explain to their voters why they believe this museum should not be built and why they believe there should be exhibitions of transgender people in it,” he added.
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, RN.Y., said Democrats should explain why they want transgender exhibits at the Smithsonian’s upcoming women’s history museum. (Photos by Allison Bailey/Middle East/AFP via Getty Images)
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Congress previously authorized a women’s history museum by 2020, as well as a museum of American Latinos. Some Democrats justified their opposition to the measure by arguing that the women’s history museum was developing outside of an organized Latino institution.
