U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) on Wednesday voted to rename every item in the American military that gets its name from a member of the Confederate Army.
The United States has 10 army bases named after Confederate leaders, including Fort Rucker in Alabama, and they would all be renamed if the amendment stays on the final bill. The amendment for which Jones voted goes further and would rename things like ships, buildings and streets.
The vote was first reported by Roll Call.
Jones’ vote came during a meeting of the Senate Armed Services Committee, where Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) proposed an amendment to the annual defense bill that would retitle every military asset named after a member of the confederacy.
The committee, which is controlled by Republicans, passed the amendment by voice vote, meaning the measure had some amount of support from both parties.
A voice vote is when the presiding officer of a meeting, in this case Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), asks those assembled to vote and each congressman says aloud “aye” or “nay” all at once.
The presiding officer then determines which group has more members, and the vote is recorded.
Senator Jones’ office confirmed to Yellowhammer News that he voted for the amendment.
“Our servicemen and women shouldn’t have to live and work on American military installations that glorify men who took up arms against the United States in the name of defending slavery,” Jones commented.
“This amendment puts our Committee squarely on the right side of history, and I am proud to stand with my colleagues from both sides of the aisle in support of making this long-overdue change,” he added.
In a set of tweets earlier in the week, President Donald Trump came out against the renaming of American military bases.
“These Monumental and very Powerful Bases have become part of a Great American Heritage, and a history of Winning, Victory, and Freedom. The United States of America trained and deployed our HEROES on these Hallowed Grounds, and won two World Wars. Therefore, my Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations,” wrote Trump on Twitter.
The committee’s vote and Trump’s tweets come as several Confederate memorials have been taken down around the United States amid the heightened attention on race relations brought about George Floyd’s death while in Minneapolis police custody in May.
The annual defense authorization bill, with the renaming amendment attached, passed out of committee by a vote of 25-2 on Thursday and now heads to the floor of the Senate for appraisal by the chamber as a whole.
Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: henry@new-yhn.local or on Twitter @HenryThornton95
