Congress Heads Toward Clash With Trump Over Removal Of Confederate Symbols

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., is pictured on May 6. His panel has voted to form a commission on removing Confederate names from Army installations.

By Claudia Grisales, Philip Ewing

June 11, 2020

Members of Congress put themselves onto a collision course with the White House on Thursday over the politics of America's Confederate legacy.

The Republican-led Senate Armed Services Committee adopted an amendment that would create a commission charged with renaming Army installations that bear Confederate names and removing their Confederate symbols.

A bipartisan team of House members, both veterans, proposed something similar.

And House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., reiterated her call for members of Congress to enact legislation that would purge the Capitol of Confederate statues. The speaker told reporters she didn't believe she has the power to do so herself — effectively daring the Republicans who control the Senate to go along.

"Believe me, if I had more authority we'd have fewer of those statues around," Pelosi told reporters on Thursday.

The speaker can move statues around within the Capitol but not take them out of it, she said.

Democrats — led by Reps. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., and Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., — have legislation to remove Confederate statues from the Capitol. Pelosi said Democrats want to remove 11 statues but specifically referred to those of Jefferson Davis and Alexander Stephens at a press conference.

"Treason," Pelosi said. "They committed treason against the United States and their statues are still here because their states put them here."

Even though some Republicans are joining with Democrats to excise the old Confederate symbols and names, their proposals, if enacted by both chambers, would require the signature of President Trump — which may not be forthcoming.

The White House dug in this week on standing by the current names of a number of Army bases named for Confederate commanders, including Robert E. Lee, who commanded the Confederate army, Braxton Bragg and others.

Trump wrote on Twitter Wednesday that he considered the door closed to renaming military installations — after Defense Secretary Mark Esper had appeared to open it — and press secretary Kayleigh McEnany reiterated on Wednesday that the administration believes the names should stay.

The amendment about the Confederate base names adopted by the Senate committee on Thursday is within an annual bill that sets policy for the military — one that, because of its size and importance, passes nearly every year.

Supporters are betting the importance of the overall bill means that when it reaches Trump, he'll overlook his objections and sign it into law.

Shifting climate

Political figures in Washington are scrambling to strike the right note in responding to the national movement that has followed the death of a Minneapolis man, George Floyd, at the hands of police.

The wave of demonstrations that followed the killing of Floyd not only reignited long-simmering anger about law enforcement and race, but other lingering questions about the status of names, statues and symbols of the old Confederacy.

Trump and Republicans have said they want to go along with prospective legislation that could reform police practices around the United States, and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., is working on a bill now.

The president has drawn the line on the Confederate names, however. And at least one senator — Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., whose panel adopted the amendment calling for a renaming commission — said he thought individual states should be involved.

This is just a first step in the process, he said, and "we have a long ways to go."

"I think that we should have state input in this thing ... and I think it will be ... by the time we get to conference and everything else," Inhofe told reporters. "Let states determine if they want to rename things in their state."

The Army bases are federal installations run by the Defense Department. Ranking member Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., said on Thursday that the renaming commission would consult with locals in assessing how to rename the bases.

"There was some dissenting votes, but it was largely a bipartisan effort, and frankly I think it will put us in the position of carefully and thoughtfully looking at this issue," Reed told reporters on a conference call Thursday.