Lone GOP senator blocks bipartisan effort to prevent Trump from demolishing Kennedy Center

By Morgan Rimmer, CNN

(CNN) — A bipartisan effort aimed at protecting the Kennedy Center from demolition was blocked on the Senate floor Monday night by a lone Republican senator.

Sen. Mike Lee of Utah objected to passage of a bill stipulating that any presidential memorial designated by an act of Congress — including the Kennedy Center — could not be demolished without congressional approval.

Supporters of the bill attempted to pass it via a fast-track process known as a unanimous consent request. But any single senator can object to such a request.

The move comes after President Donald Trump was photographed earlier this month reviewing a poster that appeared to read “Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED,” hours before his administration told a judge the Washington arts institution had to be closed due to “structural deterioration.”

Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley introduced the bill. GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Democratic Sens. Jack Reed, Sheldon Whitehouse and Chris Van Hollen also sponsored the measure.

“Trump believes that if he can’t take over and name it after himself and wipe Kennedy’s name off of it, no one can go to perform and no one can go to listen to someone perform. In fact, the building must not remain standing,” Merkley said on the Senate floor Monday.

He added that the bill is “standing up for the rule of law, the separation of powers, and the fact that we are a republic, and standing up for the fact that our nation wept at the assassination of John Kennedy, and this is a memorial that we go to to remember him.”

Lee objected to the measure and to further debate on the bill, without giving a statement on his opposition. CNN has reached out to Lee’s office for comment.

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