I was shocked to hear that the Senate Armed Services Committee had unanimously approved an amendment to the fiscal 2021 defense authorization bill that would require the Defense Department to rename all bases and ships named after Confederate military officers.

The amendment, which has introduced by Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts would force the Pentagon to establish a commission for this purpose, and they would have three years to complete their work. It passed on a voice vote, even though the Armed Services committee is controlled by Republicans and is chaired by conservative Oklahoma senator Jim Inhofe. I was particularly surprised that Inhofe didn’t even force a roll call on this amendment, especially because President Trump had indicated earlier in the day that he was opposed to the idea and would veto any bill including this language.

But Inhofe is already backtracking:

Oklahoma Republican James M. Inhofe, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Thursday that he will try to dilute his committee’s newly adopted proposal that would require the Defense Department to rename bases and other assets named after Confederates…

…Inhofe told reporters he does not agree with the provision, and he indicated precisely how he might try to weaken it, either on the Senate floor or in conference.

First, he said, he would change it from a requirement to change Confederacy names to an option: “‘shall’ respond should be ‘may,’” he said.

Secondly, he said state and local communities should be involved not just in informing the commission’s work but also in ultimately making the decision over whether and how to rename bases.

“We’re talking about input of the community not just in the process but how to decide,” he said.

Since the amendment has already been adopted by his committee, he’ll need to water it down with a separate amendment introduced during debate before the whole Senate. That could conceivably work since he’ll have the backing of a threatened presidential veto. As for fixing it in the Conference Committee, that’s a negotiation between the House and the Senate, and the Democratically-controlled House is going to be reluctant to assist in weakening the language.

The chances are pretty good that the president will have to exercise his veto, and then everyone will have to decide whether it’s worth letting funding for our military to lapse over this issue. Most likely, they’ll wind up passing a continuing resolution to keep the Pentagon funded through the end of Trump’s first term in office, and then they’ll see where things stand next January.