Sen. Adam Schiff introduced a resolution to stop the Trump administration from renaming a group of Navy ships, though the California senator didn’t get buy-in from Republicans.
Schiff’s resolution “strongly encourages the Department of Defense not to take any action” on renaming the John Lewis class of oilers, all of which were named after civil- and human-rights leaders.
His attempted to pass the resolution via unanimous consent was blocked by Republican Sen. Ted Budd.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered the Navy to strip gay-rights leader and Navy veteran Harvey Milk’s name off one ship. The ship was given the name during the Obama administration. The name-change announcement came deliberately during Pride month, Military.com reported.
Hegseth said the renamings are intended to “restore the warrior ethos.”
“I don’t understand how these removals promote the warrior ethos,” Schiff said. “Engaging in such duplicitous word games seems more weak than warrior.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters Tuesday that the efforts to rename the ships are a “complete and total disgrace” and that Democrats were “not going to allow it to happen.”
Republicans have backed Hegseth thus far regarding name changes across the department. Budd, a member of the Armed Services Committee, said that “the naming of a ship is not just a top-down affair.” In the Navy, the first group of sailors aboard a ship participate in its naming and are called “plank owners,” allowing them to proudly claim the ship as a sort of personal touchstone for the rest of their careers.
“They broke with important naval customs and traditions, and they robbed the USNS ‘plank owners’ of the chance to name these vessels after what mattered most to them,” Budd said.
But, Budd didn’t seem aware of the history of the ships themselves, blaming “the last administration” for naming the vessels. The Navy announced the ship would be named after Harvey Milk under then-President Barack Obama nearly a decade ago.
Schiff’s resolution, even if adopted, would not stop the Navy from changing the names of the ships, but instead was intended to send a message that the Senate isn’t interested in spending Department of Defense resources on these changes in the future.
“Dianne Feinstein was a co-sponsor of the USNS Harvey Milk with her name welded into the hull,” Schiff said. “One wonders if the secretary of defense will try to remove that as well.”
—
John T. Seward is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.
This story was updated to reflect that Republicans blocked Schiff’s effort to pass the resolution.