Expect a lot of racist tweets from El Trumpo on this. (And McNinny echoes)
Senate defense bill may challenge Trump on renaming military bases with Confederate names.
www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/senate-defense-bill-may-challenge-trump-on-renaming-military-bases-with-confederate-names/2020/06/29/483b7c46-b95a-11ea-80b9-40ece9a701dc_story.html
The Senate is poised to challenge President Trump this week with legislation requiring the military to rename bases bearing the names of Confederate generals, a proposal that is shaping up to be one of the most contentious items in this year’s annual defense bill.
In the Senate, the main issue appears to be timing. The bill that emerged from the Republican-led Senate Armed Services Committee included a provision giving the Pentagon three years to come up with new names, while an amendment filed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and 35 other Senate Democrats last week would speed up that process, requiring the name changes within a year.
Although there is still vocal opposition to removing the Confederate names — Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) has proposed an amendment to strip the renaming requirement — Republican support for the measure suggests that it will survive any challenges during this week’s floor debate.
But with Trump pledging that he will “not even consider the renaming” of bases, it is possible that the provision could eventually pitch Congress into a showdown with the president over the entire defense bill.
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The annual defense bill is one of the few “must pass” measures Congress considers every year, and if this year’s proposed $740 billion behemoth passes, it will be the 60th consecutive year that lawmakers have approved the measure. But because of its special status, the legislation frequently becomes a focal point for political debates. In election years especially, that can mean long, drawn-out battles in each chamber, and between the Senate and the House as they work out the differences between their versions.
In the Senate, Armed Services Committee Chairman James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.) has indicated that he wants a final vote on that chamber’s bill before lawmakers leave Capitol Hill for the two weeks following July 4.