Republican-led committee votes to change bases named after pro-slavery generals
THE Republican-led US Senate Armed Services Committee voted to require the Department of Defence to rename military bases named after Confederate generals, setting up a clash with President Donald Trump, who opposes that change and promised a veto.
The committee approved the measure, proposed by Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, as an amendment to the Senate version of the National
Defence Authorisation Act, or NDAA, a $740bn (€660bn) bill setting policy for the Pentagon, announced on Thursday.
The committee, with 14 Republicans and 13 Democrats, adopted the amendment by voice vote, which allowed individual members to avoid recording their choice.
However, the panel’s Republican chairman, Senator Jim Inhofe, expressed concern, telling reporters on a conference call he wanted local input on decisions on base names.
Besides requiring that bases stop honouring Confederate generals within three years, the legislation requires the Pentagon to change the names of other assets – such as streets, aircraft and ships – named for Confederate officers.
Similar efforts to change the names have stalled before, but Americans have become more conscious about race after a series of high-profile killings of African Americans, including that of George Floyd, who died on May 25 as a white police officer knelt on his neck. As demonstrations have swept the country, cities have
‘There have beena lot of great soldiers afterthe civil war’
removed Confederate statues and institutions have barred displays of the Confederate flag, saying they do not want to honour those who fought to continue slavery.
There is a separate movement in Congress, led by Democrats, to remove statues of Confederate generals and leaders from the US Capitol.
But Mr Trump drew a line in favour of keeping the names of 10 bases, including the army’s massive Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Fort Benning in Georgia, named for military leaders who battled Union forces during the 1860s civil war. He threatened to veto legislation changing them.
On Thursday, the Republican president doubled down on his position, attacking Ms Warren on Twitter as a “failed presidential candidate,” and referring to her as “Pocahontas”, a nickname widely seen as racist. He urged members of his party to keep the names of “our legendary military bases”.
Republican Senator Roy Blunt, who represents Missouri, a state that sent troops to fight for both the Union and the Confederacy, said he had no problem changing the bases’ names. “If you want to continue to name forts after soldiers, there have been a lot of great soldiers who have come along since the civil war,” Mr Blunt told reporters.