in 1998, some friends of ronald reagan wanted to name things in all 50 states after him. they wanted a law that would change the name of the airport to "ronald reagan airport". democratic congressmen thought it would be better to change the name of the building of the bureau of the public debt instead. they said that the airport was already named after george washington. congress chose to change the name of the airport to "ronald reagan washington national airport". because of the length of the name, many people call it "national airport". congress did not give money to make new signs with the new names. because of this, it took time for the name to be used commonly. the name of the airport's metro station is still "national airport". in early 2001, a letter signed by 24 members of congress asked that wmata change the name of the station. a policy from 1987 says that if a group wants to change the name of a station that they must pay the cost of changing the signs and maps. the price to make these changes was thought to be $400,000. because of this, the name was not changed. this caused republican congressman bob barr of georgia to say they would not give money to the agency unless the station was renamed. congress ultimately voted to require the renaming on november 30. according to the general manager at the time, richard a. white, metro paid to rename the station.