President Donald Trump on Friday claimed that a leading Senate Republican assured him that Congress won’t change the names of bases named after Confederate leaders despite the Senate passing a bill with that as a provision.
“I spoke to highly respected (Chairman) Senator @JimInhofe, who has informed me that he WILL NOT be changing the names of our great Military Bases and Forts, places from which we won two World Wars (and more!),” Trump tweeted on Friday, following the Senate’s vote referring to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman James Inhofe of Oklahoma.
“Like me, Jim is not a believer in ‘Cancel Culture,’” he added.
A spokesperson for Inhofe told The Hill when asked for comment that the “tweet speaks for itself!”
The House and Senate both passed slightly different versions of the National Defense Authorization Act, which includes a requirement that the Pentagon change the names of any bases named after Confederate leaders. The Senate requires this be done in three years, the House in one year. The two chambers will soon work out the changes, but the final version of the bill will likely include a requirement to change the names.
The bills passed the House and the Senate with veto-proof majorities, but The Hill notes that Republicans could change their votes to support a veto if Trump does issue one, as he has threatened.
“I will strenuously resist any attempt by Sen. Inhofe or any other Republican doing the President Trump’s bidding to delay, weaken or eliminate our bipartisan efforts to remove the names of traitorous leaders from military property during the conference committee process,” Rep. Anthony Brown, D-Md., one of the House bill’s co-sponsors, said in a statement on Friday.
“I dare the president to veto legislation that pays our troops more and makes critical investments in our national security over his race-baiting obsession with preserving the Confederacy,” he added.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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