Inhofe, a trusted ally of Trump, vowed to fight the provision during an interview with The Oklahoman. Inhofe told the state newspaper that he spoke to the president on Thursday about the effort and predicted it would be removed from a compromise defense bill, without specifying how.
“We are going to make sure that the provision does not survive the bill,” Inhofe told Oklahoman. “I’m not going to say how right now.”
Inhofe spokeswoman Leacy Burke added that Trump’s tweet about his conversation with Inhofe “speaks for itself.”
Although Inhofe wields considerable influence as president of the Armed Services, the odds are not in his favor to strip the provision. Similar proposals were adopted by the armed services committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate, which will make it extremely difficult to eliminate when both parties start negotiating a final bill.
Inhofe’s move will also surely upset House and Senate Democrats who have backed efforts to remove Confederate names, memorials, and other honors from military assets.
Trump and Inhofe’s comments sparked a reprimand from the top Democratic sponsor of the House provision, Rep. Anthony Brown (Democrat), who promised to “vigorously resist” attempts to water down the provision. Brown, a retired army colonel, offered the supply with Nebraska Republican Representative Don Bacon, a retired Air Force brigadier general.
“President Trump is shamefully committed to honoring the Confederate traitors who fought against the United States to preserve slavery and a system of white supremacy and systemic oppression,” Brown said in a statement. “The bipartisan supermajorities in Congress ignored their regrettable veto threat and we will no longer suffer from their delusional machinations in the president’s desperate attempt to whistle policy.”
“I challenge the president to veto legislation that pays our troops the most and makes critical investments in our national security for his race obsession with preserving the Confederacy,” added Brown.
The provisions of the Democrats-led House and Republican-led Senate defense bills are not identical, although both would require deletion of Confederate names.
The Senate defense bill, which was passed Thursday in an 86-14 outbreak, would begin a process to remove names, monuments and other paraphernalia that honor the Confederacy and its leaders from Defense Department assets and assets. for three years. The House bill, which was passed Tuesday, would force the name change of the bases within a year.
Both bills were passed with enough votes to overturn a possible Trump veto.
The Senate provision was adopted last month by the Armed Services Committee by vote and was sponsored by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), A former presidential candidate and Trump’s top liberal critic.
While some of the top Republicans have indicated the base name change is worth watching, others, including conservative Senator Josh Hawley (Republican), tried to undo the provision. Hawley’s effort received no vote before the defense bill was passed this week.
Inhofe has previously voiced opposition to the measure, arguing that local communities should have greater power to block decisions to rename the bases.
“I think they should have veto authority,” Inhofe told reporters in June.
Trump, meanwhile, has said his administration will not consider changing the name of the bases, voiding Pentagon leaders who have said the issue is worth reviewing.
Chairman of the Board of Chiefs General Mark Milley told lawmakers this month that he supports a commission that will review basic names, among other things.
“How we should do it is as important as how we should do it,” he said. “Therefore, we need to have, I have recommended, a commission of people to carefully analyze the bases, the statues, the names, all of this, to see if we can have a rational and mature discussion.”
The White House issued a formal veto threat against the House defense bill, citing the name change of the bases as one of Trump’s objections to the legislation.
The House and Senate have yet to start negotiations on a defense compromise bill.
