Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told Fox News on Wednesday that he “would hope” that President Donald Trump doesn’t follow through on his threat to veto a major defense bill over bases named for Confederate leaders.
“Well, I would hope the president really wouldn't veto the bill over this issue. ... I hope the president will reconsider vetoing the entire defense bill, which includes pay raises for our troops, over a provision in there that could lead to changing the names of some of these military bases,” McConnell said.
Trump on Wednesday threatened to veto the Defense Authorization Act after Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, added an amendment requiring that any names, symbols or monuments commemorating Confederates be removed from military sites.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told reporters on Wednesday that a proposal he is leading, which has Republican support, would remove the requirement from the bill, but include a one-year commission to determine the best outcome.
"What it does it just says let's get this out in the open. It mandates public hearings. The whole process gets moved out in the public, out from behind closed doors. So I think it's a really common sense thing, finding common ground. ... I think that would take the issues that the president seems to have," Hawley said, according to The Hill.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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