U.S.

Republicans Back Down on Confederate Flags at U.S. Cemeteries

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Representative G. K. Butterfield, Democrat of North Carolina, center, on  his way to a memorial for the Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney last month. The pastor was killed in the Charleston church attack. Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press 
WASHINGTON — Republican leaders on Thursday abruptly yanked an environmental spending bill from the House floor before a final vote amid a storm of protest over an amendment that would have allowed Confederate flags at federal cemeteries. The action came hours after South Carolina lawmakers voted to remove the Confederate battle flag from the State Capitol’s grounds.
Only the day before, Republicans had assented to Democratic amendments to an appropriations bill that would remove the flag from federal sites and gift shops.
But at the request of several Southern lawmakers, Republicans reversed themselves, and offered an amendment to allow the flag placement. A vote on that amendment had been expected Thursday afternoon. The National Park Service, which has permitted the placement of Confederate flags on graves, had already begun to direct staff to remove them.
Representative G. K. Butterfield, Democrat of North Carolina, and the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, took to the House floor to excoriate the move.
“Don’t Republicans understand that the Confederate flag is an insult to 40 million African-Americans and many other fair-minded Americans?” he said, directing his remarks to Representative Ken Calvert, Republican of California, the sponsor of the amendment.
Representative Mick Mulvaney, Republican of South Carolina, said that while he supported removing the flag in South Carolina, he opposed the Democrats’ effort to have the flag banned on federal lands.
“I indicated to leadership that it would be very difficult for me and others to vote for the appropriations bill with the amendment regarding the flag included,” said Mr. Mulvaney said. “This is very, very different. Spending taxpayer money on the flag, and displaying it on a public monument, may be one thing; preventing private citizens from doing it on graves is very different.”
Republican aides said the issue is more nuanced than in the Democrats’ portrayal. The new amendment would codify a directive from the Interior Department severely restricting — but not eliminating — the flag’s display, they said.
Under that directive, small flags in a regulated configuration could be placed on graves in historical cemeteries once or twice a year, but only in states with Confederate Memorial Days. Some items with confederate symbolism could be sold at federal cemeteries, but only after the National Park Service determines they have approved historical or cultural content.
House Republican leaders pulled the legislation Thursday morning in an effort to defuse the controversy.
“That bill is going to sit in abeyance until we come to some resolution,” said Speaker John A. Boehner, pledging to convene a bipartisan group to deal with confederate symbols.