WASHINGTON — The battle over the Confederate flag landed with ferocity Thursday in the U.S. Capitol amid an unexpected debate on the display of the southern “Battle Flag” in federal cemeteries for veterans.
House Democrats accused Republicans of catering to the large bloc of Southern conservatives in initially promoting an amendment that some viewed as pro-Confederate. Republicans accused Democrats of trying to exploit the tragedy of the mass killing inside a Charleston church last month and the subsequent decision by South Carolina leaders to remove the controversial flag from their state Capitol.
The recriminations built throughout the day despite House Speaker John A. Boehner’s effort to ease the tension. Boehner, R-Ohio, said he would soon create an informal bipartisan group to review all matters related to the display of Confederate memorabilia, likely to include those in the U.S. Capitol.
Boehner also sidelined legislation that would provide annual funds for the Interior Department after Southern lawmakers pushed to get a vote that would allow for brief displays and sales of the flag in national cemeteries.
That vote originally was set for late Thursday afternoon — almost at the exact time South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley was scheduled to sign legislation removing the controversial flag.
Boehner was among national Republican leaders who embraced Haley’s role in removing the flag, and he pointedly said Thursday that he did not believe Confederate flags should be displayed in national cemeteries.
Boehner said the working group of Democrats and Republicans would have a broad mandate to review all issues related to Confederate symbols and make bipartisan recommendations for the full Congress to consider.
Democrats responded by reintroducing a resolution that would have mandated the removal of Mississippi’s state flag from display on U.S. Capitol grounds, because it displays the Confederate “Battle Flag.” That resolution, offered by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was tabled on a mostly partisan vote that referred it to a committee.
Those Democratic moves left Boehner angry over what he saw as the rejection of his attempt to defuse the issue.
The underlying issue came on what was initially a noncontroversial amendment to the Interior Department’s annual funding legislation. Without any objection, Republicans accepted an amendment that would have forbidden any display of Confederate flags in the 14 national cemeteries overseen by the Interior Department.
This would realistically apply only to two in the Deep South, one in Vicksburg, Miss., and another in Andersonville, Ga., which are the resting grounds for Union and Confederate soldiers.
Once a year, on “Confederate Memorial Day,” southerners have a tradition of going to those two cemeteries and placing the Civil War-era flag on tombstones of Confederate soldiers.
Members of the Georgia and Mississippi delegations objected to the amendment that would abolish that tradition, and they threatened to withhold support for the overall legislation funding the Interior Department.
Expecting no Democratic votes for the bill — it includes steep cuts to domestic agencies — GOP leaders then lacked the votes to approve the overall legislation if the Southern conservatives did not get their way on the Confederate flag.
