One step closer to ‘Mount Reagan’

Lawmakers on the House Natural Resources Committee Wednesday advanced a bill that would name a Nevada mountain peak after the late President Ronald Reagan.

Rep. Joe Heck (R-Nev.) proposed the legislation that would name part of Frenchman Mountain, located east of Las Vegas, “Mount Reagan.”

{mosads}Committee members approved the measure by voice vote Wednesday, according to The Associated Press.

Before the vote, some Democrats, whom the AP did not identify, joked about the proposal. One said Yucca Mountain should be named after Reagan. The mountain is the site of a proposed nuclear waste depository. Another Democrat suggested the entire planet be named after the 40^th president. 

According to the AP, the bill would likely pass in the House but might not make it to the Senate.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has higher priorities for his home state that the Reagan proposal, a spokesman told AP.

A Mount Reagan already exists, according to New Hampshire state law. In 2003, its legislature voted to change the name from Mount Clay — after 19th century U.S. Senator Henry Clay — to Reagan, after the president. The name change is not recognized by the federal government, however.

The peak is part of New Hampshire’s Presidential Range, whose mountains are named after a number of U.S. presidents and Founding Fathers. Other peaks are named after Presidents George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams, James Madison, James Monroe, Franklin Pierce and Dwight D. Eisenhower.