Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday announced he would appoint a bipartisan committee to make recommendations for how to commemorate the memory of Sen. John McCain.
"I am glad we are able to form this gang to ensure that a suitable lasting tribute becomes a reality. I'll have more details to share about this group in the coming days," McConnell said, according to CNN.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has proposed an initiative to rename the Russell Senate office building after McCain, but that has been met with a mixed response from Republicans, many of whom said it was too soon to talk about such a major change with some outright nixing the idea.
The building is currently named for Richard Russell, a former senator from Georgia who served for over 40 years.
Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said he would not be in support of renaming the building after McCain not out of any disrespect for McCain, but because he doesn't want to create a precedent for renaming institutions that already honor someone's memory.
"This is a question of making sure that however John is honored, it's set in stone that John is always honored," Cassidy said Tuesday. "I don't want to establish a precedent where somebody is unhonored in the future."
McConnell said Tuesday he would ask a "gang" of lawmakers to meet and talk about the best way to honor McCain but did not directly address renaming Russell. Instead, he floated renaming the Senate Armed Services Committee room after McCain as well as potentially resurrecting a portrait to the Capitol Senate reception room of McCain.
McCain died on Saturday at the age of 81 after a yearlong battle with an aggressive form of brain cancer. His death came one day after his family announced that he had chosen to discontinue medical treatment because the “progress of disease and the inexorable advance of age” had rendered “their verdict.”
His funeral is scheduled for Sunday at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.