GOP MP Don Bacon, who led an effort to change the military base name, voted for a draft law’s reimbursement effort to reverse the changes.
Duckworth: in renamed Hegseth’s “incompetent” military base debate
Senator Tammy Duckworth has questioned Secretary of Defense Pete Hegses about his plan to return the military base to Confederate leadership.
In an interview with USA Today, Republican lawmakers denounced the push for Defense Secretary Pete Hegses to revive the Confederate base name that was banned through a proxy.
Rep. Don Bacon of R-Nebraska joined House Democrats on July 15 to approve an amendment to the defense bill that attempts to block name changes. The retired Air Force Brigadier General described the move as Heggs’ “b-responsibility” and Trump used a loophole to restore the Confederate names.
It was unclear whether the measure would reach the final defense bill, but Bacon had harsh words calling for Hegus’ moves, messing around with the legally mandated efforts to remove the names of Confederate generals from US military bases.
“I think they’re trying to make this cute by Hegses. “To me, it looks stupid like hell.”
Bacon co-hosted the original bipartisan push to ban the US base name honoring Confederate figures that became law in January 2021.
President Donald Trump rejected the bill, but lawmakers overturned him and forced the Pentagon to find a new name that doesn’t respect the Confederate forces.
In 2022, the Biden-era Department of Defense implemented recommendations from a bipartisan naming committee and renamed posts to honor figures such as five-star generals and former president Dwight Eisenhower.
However, Hegseth reversed these changes. This time we changed the base for a US service member who matched the previous Confederate name surname.
The draft 2026 Defense Policy Bill approved by the House Armed Services Committee protects the Naming Committee’s recommendations by banning the use of official funds for base names.
Bacon, who represents Omaha and Kansas Republican Rep. Derek Schmidt, joined Democrats in a dramatic late-night vote to approve an amendment written by Rep. Marilyn Strickland of D-Washington. The Senate Armed Services Committee has passed a limited and similar measure in its version of the bill to block the renaming of Virginia bases.
“The council has made clear where we stand,” Bacon said.
In February, Hegseth reversed Fort Liberty’s name to Fort Bragg by naming the PFC. Roland Bragg was awarded a Silver Star for his service in World War II. In March, Fort Benning followed, removing the short-lived Fort Moore Monica for CPL. Fred Benning received a famous service cross during World War I.
Then, Trump announced in June that all of the Army’s basic names would change to honor soldiers who shared their names with previous Confederate names.
He and Hegses argued that the original name boosted the morale of the soldiers and changed only for the so-called “heart” of the army. The Secretary of Defense also states that the old name provides a “generational connection” between veterans and modern military forces.
Bacon argues that Republicans should not support the names proposed by the segregationist Jim Crowe era during World War I and World War II.
For example, the name of Fort Benning was proposed by the daughters of the Union. This is an organization that sought to rewrite history textbooks and build monuments that underestimated the centrality of slavery against the Civil War.
And perhaps Bacon’s support has its own personal roots — the great grandfather of a Virginia-born abolitionist lawmaker moved to Illinois and fought for the US military during the civil war, Bacon noted.
The practical effect of the correction remains to be seen, according to defense officials. The House and Senate must resolve any discrepancies between approaches to base names before the chamber agrees to the final version.
Meanwhile, the base name renaming process could be completed before the law becomes effective, officials said.
If that happens, Bacon, who will retire from Congress in 2026, said he believes that the future Democrat president is “trying to change them all.”
Contributions: Tom Vanden Brook and Cybele Mayes-Osterman, USA Today.
