Congress May Bypass Trump On Military Base Names

The Military Times reports:

Hours after the president announced he would block all efforts to remove the names of Confederate leaders from prominent U.S. military bases, lawmakers in the House and Senate both pushed to force defense leaders to make the changes anyway, calling it an issue of respect and inclusivity.

On Thursday morning, Reps. Anthony Brown, D-Md., and Don Bacon, R-Neb. — both military veterans — introduced new legislation to rename any current military installations honoring leaders of the Confederacy within a year.

Similarly, on Wednesday members of the Senate Armed Services Committee included in their draft of the annual defense authorization bill language to strip the controversial names from bases within the next three years, after a commission review into potential replacements.

Trump says he’ll veto any legislation requiring military bases honoring Confederate leaders to change their names. Congress is already taking steps to fight him on it. #FY21NDAA https://t.co/TM3tXfS5M2

— Leo Shane III (@LeoShane) June 11, 2020

The amendment to remove Confederate names could still be stripped out as it makes its way through the legislative process. But if Trump were to veto such a bill, it would be a big risk given the popular defense measure sets policy for the Pentagon. https://t.co/dFUQZzbzwT

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) June 11, 2020

The Pentagon was shocked by Trump’s tweet yesterday on bases named for Confederate generals.

“It feels like we took two steps forward and six steps back. Just to have a conversation, that’s all we wanted,” a military official said.https://t.co/VkwLXn9A4n

— POLITICO (@politico) June 11, 2020

Seriously failed presidential candidate, Senator Elizabeth “Pocahontas” Warren, just introduced an Amendment on the renaming of many of our legendary Military Bases from which we trained to WIN two World Wars. Hopefully our great Republican Senators won’t fall for this!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 11, 2020