WASHINGTON (AP) – The dispute in Congress over the Confederate flag threatened Friday to upend House Republican plans to move forward on routine spending legislation, amid concerns that Democrats could hijack the bills to debate the flag.
House Republican aides said a bill covering general government operations tentatively set for consideration next week would not be considered after all. 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.
“It was a fast fuse, and I don’t think very many people realized how it would play out,” Rep. Harold Rogers, R-Ky., chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said Friday of the incident. Now, he said, “there’s a number of options that are being considered” for moving forward.
Adding to the difficult political optics for Republicans, the dispute on Capitol Hill flared just as South Carolina removed its own Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds in the wake of the vicious church shooting in Charleston that has sparked a national debate on the topic.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, issued a congratulatory statement to South Carolina officials for removing the flag even as his own leadership team was debating how to deal with the spending bills pending in the House. Passing them to fund annual government operations is Congress’ most basic responsibility, yet any one of them could become a vehicle for Democratic mischief.