House votes to ban Confederate flags on VA cemetery flagpoles

May 19, 2016 at 11:20 a.m.

by The Associated Press

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/MELISSA SUE GERRITS - 07/26/15 - Earnie Cavin, from Rose Bud, AR, rests at the atop the Big Dam Bridge in Little Rock, July 26, 2015, while taking part of a rally of nearly 100 people carrying confederate flags. Cavin's great great grandfather died in the battle of Greer's Ferry during the Civil War. "This is a battle flag. It is part of our heritage and it honors those veterans who lost their lives", said Cavin. "It has been associated with racism just like other flags, but this debate is becoming something more than it should."
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/MELISSA SUE GERRITS - 07/26/15 - Earnie Cavin, from Rose Bud, AR, rests at the atop the Big Dam Bridge in Little Rock, July 26, 2015, while taking part of a rally of nearly 100 people carrying confederate flags. Cavin's great great grandfather died in the battle of Greer's Ferry during the Civil War. "This is a battle flag. It is part of our heritage and it honors those veterans who lost their lives", said Cavin. "It has been associated with racism just like other flags, but this debate is becoming something more than it should."

WASHINGTON — The House has voted to ban the display of the Confederate flag on flagpoles at Veterans Administration cemeteries.

The 265-159 vote would block descendants and others seeking to commemorate veterans of the Confederate States of America from flying the Confederate Battle Flag over mass graves, even on days that flag displays are permitted.

California Democrat Jared Huffman authored the prohibition, saying the flag represents "racism, slavery and division."

After a mass shooting at a South Carolina black church last year, the state legislature ordered the flag removed from the capitol in Columbia.

The House approved amendments last year to block the display and sale of the Confederate flag at national parks but a backlash from Southern Republicans caused GOP leaders to scrap the underlying spending bill.

Read Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

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