The Confederate flag was reportedly showcased along with more than 40 other banners in Epcot as the American Adventure guests watched an animatronics show with references to slavery, Civil War and abolitionists. That followed an embarrassing incident Thursday: Republicans had to pull a different bill when conservative Southern members revolted against a last-minute amendment to block display of the flag at federal cemeteries.
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A spokesman for Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, called Pelosi’s action “a cheap political stunt”.
It will be the first time the Congress has voted on any measure related to the Confederate flag since the issue erupted in the wake of the killing of nine black church parishioners last month in Charleston, South Carolina.
The number of graves was unknown, but Park Service spokeswoman Kathy Kupper said there was one at Andersonville cemetery in Georgia and two each at Shiloh in Tennessee and Vicksburg in Mississippi.
But as news spread about the two amendments from Huffman, and one from Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), it was obvious there were misgivings, especially among Republicans I quizzed from the South. He said the bipartisan discussions could potentially address Confederate symbols within the Capitol as well as at parks and cemeteries.
That’s how Huffman’s Confederate flag amendment was written into the National Park Service funding bill, and any number of amendments addressing the flag issue could be drafted to fit other spending bills, as well, regardless of whether they would have a real-world impact. While Democrats wanted an immediate vote, the amendment was instead sent to a committee. He said today’s events are a learning moment in the state’s history. “It was put to a vote and an overwhelming majority chose to keep the flag”.
While his vendors are primarily up north, he says the one vendor he has in Georgia is still sold out.
More than 150 years later, it is still a widely debated symbol.
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Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif., said the now-abandoned proposal “had been brought to me by leadership at the request of some southern” GOP lawmakers, and also would have written into law existing National Park Service regulations approved by the Obama administration. And in the furor, they failed to note that Obama could have already done what the House Democrats want.
