Norton Says Confederate Flag is on Life Support in the South, But House Republicans Continue to Prop it Up in Congress
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today said that House Republicans must take responsibility for the fact the Confederate flag continues to fly in Congress. Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), in a privileged motion, forced a vote on a resolution to remove any state flag that contains any portion of the Confederate flag from the House side of the U.S. Capitol. The House voted along party lines to refer the resolution back to the House Administration Committee. Norton said that sending the Pelosi resolution back to committee kills it. Consequently, today the Confederate flag remains in the Capitol, while ironically, the South Carolina House today approved a bill to remove the flag from the statehouse grounds. The Confederate flag is expected to be removed from the statehouse grounds tomorrow.
House Republicans today continued to drill down in spite of anti-Confederate-flag sentiment sweeping the country when they tried to overturn amendments that had passed unanimously yesterday on the fiscal year 2016 U.S. Department of Interior Appropriations bill that would have barred the display of Confederate flags in federal cemeteries and barred the National Park Service (NPS) from doing business with gift shops that sell Confederate flag merchandise. Caught without enough Republican votes to pass the bill without overturning the amendments, Republicans were forced to pull the entire Interior Appropriations bill off the floor unfinished.
"House Democrats stood united today against shameful House Republican attempts to protect the Confederate flag here in the U.S. Capitol," Norton said. "Worse, they lost the opportunity to proceed on their own Interior Appropriations bill when they did not have enough votes to overturn earlier votes to remove the Confederate flag from NPS sites. The South is leading on taking down a flag that symbolizes racism and division. Why can't the House follow?"