Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, says she’s gotten blowback from fellow Republicans for supporting a defense bill provision to rename military bases that memorialize Confederate figures.
“I’ve been getting heck from my own party. I’m willing to take that from my own party because it’s the right thing to do,” Ernst told Black community leaders in Des Moines, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reported.
But, she said, “I could care a whit if we keep those names because those were Confederate generals.”
Ernst, a member of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, supports an amendment in the annual defense spending bill to require the names to change within a certain amount of allotted time.
The stance is at odds with President Donald Trump, who doesn’t want any name changes at the bases because it’s part of our history.
But Ernst went on the record last Sunday supporting the defense budget bill, telling CNN’s “State of the Union” she “would love" for the president to sign the bill.
“I would love that he would sign the bill and move forward,” Ernst said. “Absolutely, we have to have the discussions … and if that's what will help, if we can all get together as stakeholders, then I think it's the right thing to do."
Ernst is in a tough battle for reelection in November. A Des Moines Register-Mediacom Iowa poll in June found she was trailing her Democratic challenger Theresa Greenfield by 3 points.
© 2020 Newsmax. All rights reserved.