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Wednesday 29 august 2018
Republicans resist plan to rename Senate building for McCain

By MATTHEW DALY knee jerk, to do anything —
WASHINGTON (AP) — A any suggestion — right now
proposal to rename the is premature," he said.
Senate's oldest office build- Republicans backed Mc-
ing for John McCain ran Connell's plan to study the
into resistance Tuesday issue, with some saying
from Republican senators McCain himself would ap-
reluctant to take away an preciate the GOP leader's
honor already bestowed commitment to "regular or-
on an earlier Senate titan der," including the process
— and a leader of South- of committee work.
ern senators during a tu- McCain "didn't want ideas
multuous era in the nation's cooked up in some back
history. room and sprung on the
Senate Majority Leader Senate," said Sen. John
Mitch McConnell, looking Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2
to defuse a budding con- Republican senator.
troversy, said he will form "I'd name the Capitol after
a bipartisan panel to so- the old guy if I could," joked
licit ideas on the best way Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-
to honor the late Arizona S.C., McCain's closest
senator. friend in the Senate.
McCain "meant so much More seriously, Graham
to so many of us — inside In this file photo from Monday, May 6, 2013, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., laughs as he and Sen. said the Capitol Visitor Cen-
this chamber and out," Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., left, cross paths in the Russell Senate Office Building, on Capitol Hill in ter could be named for
McConnell said Tuesday Washington. McCain. The 10-year-old
in a speech on the Senate Associated Press building is not named for
floor. "The Senate is eager anyone.
to work on concrete ways may consider naming a such giants as Henry Clay, midable presence known "What a great way to be
to continue this momentum room used by the Senate Daniel Webster and Robert as a "senator's senator" exposed to the Capitol
and provide a lasting trib- Armed Services Commit- Taft. Only seven senators because of his mastery of by hearing the life story of
ute to this American hero tee after McCain, who was are honored with portraits Senate rules. An ardent de- John McCain," Graham
long after this week's obser- the panel's chairman, Mc- there. fender of the defense bud- said, noting that McCain
vances are complete." Connell said. Another idea McConnell was careful not get, Russell also was author served in the House and
Besides the proposal to re- is to add McCain's portrait to make a specific recom- of the School Lunch Act, Senate, was a Navy aviator
name the Russell Senate to a reception room right mendation. which provides free and and a war hero who was
Office building, lawmakers off the Senate floor, joining Senate Democratic leader low-cost meals in public held prisoner for more than
Chuck Schumer had pro- schools. five years in North Vietnam.
posed renaming the Russell Republican Sen. Chuck "Instead of worrying about
building in McCain's honor Grassley of Iowa, who what to name for him ...
after the veteran Republi- served with McCain for 31 let's be more like him," Gra-
can senator died Saturday years, said he was in fa- ham said.
from brain cancer. vor of "naming almost any Fellow Tennessee Republi-
The 109-year-old building is building" for McCain, but can Sen. Bob Corker said he
named after Sen. Richard added, "I'm not sure that I was "all for" renaming the
Russell, a Georgia Demo- would make a decision on building in McCain's honor
crat who, like McCain, a specific building at this but that "there'll probably
chaired the Armed Servic- point." be some discussion about
es panel. Russell, who died Republican Sen. Jeff Flake that" in both parties.
in 1971, was a segregation- of Arizona, who co-spon- "Russell is somebody that's
ist and led Southern oppo- sored the measure, said re- obviously a huge figure, but
sition to anti-lynching bills naming the building would it is an era that's gone by.
and other civil rights legisla- be "a particularly good" We're in a new era now,"
tion, including the 1964 Civil way to honor McCain, but Corker said Monday.
Rights Act. He co-authored wanted to make sure Mc- "Who would want to vote
the "Southern Manifesto" Cain's family agreed. against naming a build-
to slow the integration of Georgia's GOP Sen. David ing after somebody who
public schools after the Su- Perdue, whose own office just passed away?" Corker
preme Court unanimously was once used by Russell, asked, before answering his
ordered it in 1954. said he's unsure if residents own question. "There may
Previously known simply as back home would accept be some curmudgeon that
the Senate Office Building, a name change for the wouldn't want to do that."
it was renamed in Russell's building. "I think Russell being named
honor the year after his "This is Washington. There's Russell is that generation
death. going to be 50 percent for of senators' message to fu-
While some Republicans something and 50 percent ture generations," Cassidy
were receptive to Schum- against something," Perdue said. "What I don't want is
er's proposal, many were said Tuesday. to establish a precedent
hesitant to rename a build- The Senate should spend so something named after
ing that honors a senator time finding "the right way" John McCain is named af-
who served for nearly four to memorialize McCain's ter somebody else in the
decades and was a for- service, Perdue said. "To future."q