A new bicameral effort led by Tennessee Representative Andy Ogles and Florida Senator Rick Scott aims to rename the street outside the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., after Tiananmen Square, marking the 37th anniversary of the 1989 massacre. The proposal, obtained exclusively by Breitbart News, would place the name “Tiananmen Square Memorial Boulevard” directly in front of the embassy compound.
The bill, formally titled the Tiananmen Square Memorial Act of 2026, identifies a specific stretch of International Place Northwest—between 3501 and 3507 International Place NW—as the area to be redesignated.
Under the text, “Any reference in a law, map, regulation, document, paper, or other record of the United States to the area referred to in paragraph (1) shall be deemed to be a reference to Tiananmen Square Memorial Boulevard.”
The legislation goes further, directing the General Services Administration to install new signage. The signs must contain the phrase “Tiananmen Square Memorial Boulevard,” match the design style used for Washington’s Metro station markers, and be placed on federal property closest to the renamed street as well as at the intersections of International Drive NW with Van Ness Street NW and International Place NW.
Scott framed the bill as a direct condemnation of the Chinese Communist Party’s actions in 1989 and its conduct since. “Thirty-seven years ago, the world witnessed the true brutality of the Chinese Communist Party when countless peaceful demonstrators were murdered in cold blood for opposing the communist regime,” he said. He added that the CCP has shown “no remorse for this horrific event, has never taken accountability, and continues to commit severe human rights violations to this day.”
The senator said the measure honors the “courageous victims of the Tiananmen Square massacre” and denounces the “heinous human rights abuses committed by the Chinese Communist Party.”
Ogles, in his own statement, described China as being “ruled by the immoral, genocidal Communist regime.” His comments invoked the events of June 1989 directly. “Tomorrow marks 37 years since the Tiananmen Square Massacre, when the Chinese government attacked its own people, mowing them down in the streets and murdering thousands of innocent demonstrators,” he said.
He continued, “As the CCP continues its reign of terror, America must unequivocally condemn its human rights abuses and honor the victims who were slaughtered in 1989. I am proud to partner with Senator Rick Scott to rename the street outside the Chinese Embassy.” Ogles closed with a line aimed squarely at Beijing’s censorship efforts: “The CCP may try to erase history, but we will not forget.”
If enacted, the redesignation would join a small number of symbolic street renamings near foreign embassies, a tactic Congress has occasionally used to highlight human‑rights issues or political dissidents. The proposal is expected to draw attention as lawmakers consider additional measures related to U.S.–China relations later this year.
