House Bans Confederate Flag From VA Cemeteries

On May 19, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to ban Confederate flags from flying over national cemeteries operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs. The bill still allows small Confederate flags beside individual graves, but for only two days per year.

The vote was brought to the floor by House Democrats, and affects the majority of the 147 national cemeteries in the U.S., reports AL.com. The National Park Service operates 14 of these cemeteries, and already limits Confederate flag displays.

Rep. Jared Huffman, a Democrat from California, introduced the rule as an amendment to a bill funding VA and military construction projects, reports The Hill.

“Over 150 years ago, slavery was abolished,” Huffman said during floor debate. “Why in the year 2016 are we still condoning displays of this hateful symbol on our sacred national cemeteries?”

Another bill targeting Confederate flag displays was struck down a day earlier during a procedural vote along party lines. The vote was to amend defense authorization so that the flag would no longer be flown over the Citadel in South Carolina.

“This is not some procedural vote to be waved away,” Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, a Democrat from New York, said of the failed amendment vote. “This is about whether we will affirm equal rights or rationalize discrimination.”

“We are told that we are to make America great again,” Maloney continued, referencing the infamous Donald Trump campaign slogan. “Well, you cannot make America great by making America hate!”

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Democrat from California, suggested that the vote illustrated bigotry within the Republican Party.

She claimed, “Whatever their empty talk about being shocked by Donald Trump’s hateful rhetoric, House Republicans’ votes utterly expose the reality of their own discriminatory agenda.”

Sources: AL.com, The Hill, (2) / Photo credit: Shannon Hauser/Flickr