Ian Brickey (314) 238-6766, ian.brickey@sierraclub.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- After weeks of threatening to block the major military spending bill, President Trump vetoed the 2020 National Defense Authoritzation Act. The $740 billion bill is the major vehicle for funding the U.S. military and passed both the House of Representatives and Senate with veto-proof majorities. The 2020 bill includes a provision that would redesignate military installations currently named after prominent Confederate military and political leaders.
Trump’s veto of NDAA is the latest example of Trump’s public defense of the Confederacy and Confederate icons around the country. In 2017, Trump declared the white supremacists who violently opposed the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee from Charlottesville, Va. “very fine people.” After anti-racist demonstrations in Washington, D.C. over the summer, Trump ordered the DC National Guard to “protect” a statue of Albert Pike, the sole open-air Confederate statue in the city, and threatened to jail anyone found tampering with it.
In response, Sierra Club Military Outdoors campaign manager Rob Vessels released the following statement:
“President Trump is the most pro-Confederate president since 1865. If he wants to visit a monument to the Confederacy, we recommend Appomattox Courthouse.
“We hope Congress will swiftly override this veto.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3.5 million members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.