House Backs Huffman Bid to Limit Display of Confederate Flag in National Cemeteries

The House of Representatives on Thursday agreed to legislation by North Bay Rep. Jared Huffman to ban the use of federal funds to fly Confederate flags in 131 national cemeteries managed by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The legislation would not bar small individual flags from being placed on graves in the cemeteries. Rather, it would end the current practice in VA-run cemeteries of allowing the Confederate battle flag to fly from flagpoles at the facilities on two days each year: Memorial Day and Confederate Memorial Day.

Huffman's amendment to a military construction and veterans spending bill, co-sponsored by Reps. Ruben Gallego, D-Arizona, and Keith Ellison, D-Minnesota, lost on a voice vote during a sparsely attended House session Wednesday evening.

Huffman asked for a recorded vote, which took place soon after the House reconvened Thursday. The result: 265 voted for the Confederate flag ban, 159 voted no.

Of those voting against, 158 were Republicans -- two-thirds of the GOP majority's 246-member caucus.

Huffman had harsh words for the Republicans who voted against his amendment.

"Why would anyone in Congress -- let alone a majority of the governing party -- still condone displays of this hateful symbol on our sacred national cemeteries?" Huffman asked.

"The Confederate battle flag, a symbol of hate and opposition to the United States of America, has no place -- no place -- on government property," Huffman said on the House floor Wednesday night. "Especially not the VA cemeteries, a place where families and loved ones go to pay respect to our nation's veterans."

The lone Democrat to vote against Huffman's amendment was Rep. Sanford Bishop, an African-American representing a district in southwestern Georgia.

"While as a descendant of slaves I find the Confederate flag and the history it represents deeply offensive," Bishop said in a statement, "I believe that the descendants of Confederate veterans should not be denied the privilege of honoring their dead ancestors two days of the year on a flagpole where their beloved are buried in mass graves."

The issue prompted a mini-split in the usually unified ranks of California's Republican House delegation. Eleven members supported Huffman's amendment while three -- Northern California Reps. Doug LaMalfa and Tom McClintock and Southern California's Duncan Hunter -- voted no.

Huffman's proposal still must be approved by the Senate and signed by President Obama to become law.