Trump has opposed renaming bases — contradicting Pentagon officials who have said the issue is worth reviewing — and first threatened to nix legislation that would do so last month. The White House veto threat echoed Trump, calling the House provision “part of a sustained effort to erase” history.
“President Trump has been clear in his opposition to politically motivated attempts like this to rewrite history and to displace the enduring legacy of the American Revolution with a new left-wing cultural revolution,” the White House said.
The House-passed bill also would ban the display of the Confederate flag on Defense Department property. Defense Secretary Mark Esper, however, issued a new policy last week that effectively bars the Confederate flag from being displayed, though doesn’t specifically name it.
But the odds are good Trump will be presented with legislation to rename bases this year. The Republican-led Senate is expected to pass its own defense bill this week that would force the renaming of bases and other assets named for Confederate leaders over a three-year period.
Trump’s stand on Confederate-named bases could turn an otherwise bipartisan national security bill into a brawl between lawmakers and the White House.
The blowout House vote marks a stark turnaround from last year, when House Democrats passed a defense bill replete with liberal policy measures with no Republican support. Most of the measures aimed at attracting progressives — including limits on border wall spending, cuts to nuclear weapons programs, and a provision requiring Congress to sign off on military strikes against Iran — were dropped in negotiations with the Republican Senate.
On the final vote, over 100 Republicans joined with Democrats to pass the bill.
“Obviously I do not agree with everything in the bill,” ranking Armed Services Republican Mac Thornberry said at the outset of debate. “But on balance it’s a good bill and, in some particulars, it’s a very good bill.”
The defense bill is named in honor of Thornberry, a two-term Armed Services chair who is retiring after 13 terms in Congress.
This year, Democrats jettisoned many of the provisions that cost them Republican votes. And House leaders elected to forgo votes on many of the most contentious amendments offered to the bill, including efforts to block war with Iran, repeal the 2001 and 2002 war authorizations and curtail the Pentagon’s program to transfer surplus military equipment to law enforcement agencies.
Progressive Democrats saw another defeat on the House floor ahead of Tuesday’s vote. An amendment from Congressional Progressive Caucus co-chair Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) to cut 10 percent from bill’s top line was rejected 93-324. The move would have been a non-starter for Republicans.
Still, Democrats adopted some proposals over Republican opposition, including amendments to limit Trump’s…
Read More:House passes defense bill removing Confederate names from bases, defying
