GOP-led Missouri lawmakers approved legislation Thursday to honor late radio host and native son Rush Limbaugh, ensuring his January 12 birthday will now be remembered annually.
Limbaugh, originally from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, died of complications after a long battle with lung cancer in February at the age of 70, as Breitbart News reported.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch said the proposal for the syndicated radio legend’s birthday commemoration will proceed, noting, “the measure must receive approval from the Senate before the end of the legislative session next Friday,” which is also controlled by the GOP.
According to the outlet, the vote followed a failed “Democratic-led effort to designate Jan. 13 as ‘Walter Cronkite Day,’ after the Missouri native and broadcast journalist who anchored the CBS Evening News.”
“Rush Limbaugh’s contributions to broadcasting and the conservative movement cannot be overstated. He was, simply put, a legend who cannot be replaced,” state Rep. Hardy Billington, a Republican from Poplar Bluff who sponsored the measure, had said previously. “This is one way we can recognize the outstanding impact Rush Limbaugh has had on our state and country.”
Limbaugh, host of The Rush Limbaugh Show for 32 years, had been battling Stage 4 lung cancer since January 2020.
Just days after announcing his diagnosis, Limbaugh was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Donald Trump during the State of the Union on February 4, 2020 “Rush Limbaugh: Thank you for your decades of tireless devotion to our country,” Trump told the radio host during the address.
The Missourian noted last year Limbaugh already is honored in two places in the state.
“The face of the radio commentator, a 1969 graduate of Cape Girardeau Central High School, graces the Missouri Wall of Fame along Water Street at the Cape Girardeau riverfront,” the media outlet reported.
“In 2012, Limbaugh was inducted into the Hall of Famous Missourians in Jefferson City.”