GOP resists plan to rename Senate building for McCain
Location honors Southern titan
WASHINGTON — A proposal to rename the Senate’s oldest office building for John McCain ran into resistance Tuesday from Republican senators reluctant to take away an honor already bestowed on an earlier Senate titan who was a leader of Southern senators during a tumultuous era in the nation’s history.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., looking to defuse a budding controversy, said he will form a bipartisan panel to solicit ideas on the best way to honor thelate Arizona senator.
Mr. McCain “meant so much to so many of us — inside this chamber and out,” Mr.McConnell said Tuesday in a speech on the Senate floor. “The Senate is eager to work on concrete ways to continue this momentum and provide a lasting tribute to this American hero long after this week’s observances are complete.”
Besides the proposal to rename the Russell Senate Office building, lawmakers may consider naming a room used by the Senate Armed Services Committee after Mr. McCain, who was the panel’s chairman, Mr. McConnell said. Another idea is to add Mr. McCain’s portrait to a reception room off the Senate floor, joining such giants as Henry Clay, Daniel Webster and Robert Taft. Only seven senators are honored with portraits there.
Mr. McConnell was careful not to make a specific recommendation.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York had proposed renaming the Russell building in Mr. McCain’s honor after the veteran Republican senator died Saturday from brain cancer.
The 109-year-old building is named after Sen. Richard Russell, a Georgia Democrat who, like Mr. McCain, chaired the Armed Services panel. Mr. Russell, who died in 1971, was a segregationist and led Southern opposition to anti-lynching bills and other civil rights legislation, including the 1964 Civil Rights Act. He co-authored the “Southern Manifesto” to slow the integration of public schools after the Supreme Court unanimously ordered it in 1954.
Previously known simply as the Senate Office Building, it was renamed in Mr. Russell’s honor the year after his death.
While some Republicans were receptive to Mr. Schumer’s proposal, many were hesitant to rename a building that honors a senator who served for nearly four decades and was a formidable presence known as a “senator’s senator” because of his mastery of Senate rules. An ardent defender of the defense budget, Mr. Russell also was author of the School Lunch Act, which provides free and low-cost meals in public schools.
Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who served with Mr. McCain for 31 years, said he was in favor of “naming almost any building” for Mr. McCain, but added, “I’m not sure that I would make a decision on a specific building at this point.”
Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, who co-sponsored the measure, said renaming the building would be “a particularly good” way to honor Mr. McCain, but wanted to makesure Mr. McCain’s familyagreed.
Georgia’s GOP Sen. David Perdue, whose own office wasonce used by Mr. Russell, said he’s unsure if residents back home would accept a name change for the building.
“This is Washington. There’s going to be 50 percent for something and 50 percent against something,” Mr. Perdue said Tuesday.
The Senate should spend time finding “the right way” to memorialize Mr. McCain’s service, Mr. Perdue said. “To knee jerk, to do anything — any suggestion — right now ispremature,” he said.
At the same time, Johnny Isakson — the other senator from Georgia and also a Republican — told reporters on Tuesday he supported the renaming.
Republicans backed Mr. McConnell’s plan to study the issue, with some saying Mr. McCain himself would appreciate the GOP leader’s commitment to “regular order,” including the process of committee work.
Mr. McCain “didn’t want ideas cooked up in some back room and sprung on the Senate,” said Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Republican senator.
“I’d name the Capitol after the old guy if I could,” joked Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Mr. McCain’s closest friend in the Senate.
More seriously, Mr. Graham said the Capitol Visitor Center could be named for Mr. McCain. The 10-year-old building is not named for anyone.
“What a great way to be exposed to the Capitol by hearing the life story of John McCain,” Mr. Graham said, noting that Mr. McCain served in the House and Senate, was a Navy aviator and a war hero who was held prisoner for more than five years in North Vietnam.
“Instead of worrying about what to name for him ... let’s be more like him,” Mr. Graham said.
Fellow Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker said he was “all for” renaming the building in Mr. McCain’s honor but that “there’ll probably be some discussion about that” in both parties.
The proposal to rename thebuilding drew opposition from some Southern senators.