The House of Representatives on Thursday agreed to legislation by North Bay Rep. Jared Huffman to ban the use of federal funds to fly Confederate flags in 131 national cemeteries managed by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The legislation would not bar small individual flags from being placed on graves in the cemeteries. Rather, it would end the current practice in VA-run cemeteries of allowing the Confederate battle flag to fly from flagpoles at the facilities on two days each year: Memorial Day and Confederate Memorial Day.
Huffman's amendment to a military construction and veterans spending bill, co-sponsored by Reps. Ruben Gallego, D-Arizona, and Keith Ellison, D-Minnesota, lost on a voice vote during a sparsely attended House session Wednesday evening.
Huffman asked for a recorded vote, which took place soon after the House reconvened Thursday. The result: 265 voted for the Confederate flag ban, 159 voted no.
Of those voting against, 158 were Republicans -- two-thirds of the GOP majority's 246-member caucus.