The Pentagon would be renamed after Ronald Reagan and his image placed on some American currency under proposals by congressional Republicans to honour one of their party's most popular former presidents.
While Democrats have joined Republicans in saluting Reagan, who died on Saturday and served as president from 1981-1989, many flinched at giving immediate new honors to the architect of the modern Republican party.
Senate Minorty leader Mr Tom Daschle
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, offered amendments on Monday to a defence bill to rename the Pentagon as well as the US Missile Defence Agency after the former president.
Reagan is credited with helping win the Cold War with a massive defense build-up, including a space-based missile-defense program, that also contributed to record federal budget deficits.
On another front, MrJeff Miller, a Florida Republican, introduced legislation yesterday to have Reagan bump former Democratic President John F. Kennedy off the 50-cent piece.
Reagan would replace another Democrat, former President Andrew Jackson, on the $20 bill under a proposal by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican.
Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, suggested Reagan appear on the $10 bill, now graced with a likeness of Alexander Hamilton, the nation's first US treasury secretary.
Some Democrats, however, reflected the fierce political partisanship that the conservative Reagan often stirred. "What's next - putting Ronald Reagan on Mount Rushmore?" scoffed a senior Democratic congressional aide.
Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat, said: "I think the best way to remember President Reagan is to fully fund Alzheimer's research and to find a cure to that dreaded disease some time soon". Reagan died after a decade-long battle with Alzheimer's disease.
The 40th US president already has a number of major monuments to his name. They include the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, the massive Ronald Reagan Building housing federal offices in Washington and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.