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Unknown Republican Senators Cut Phrase ‘White Nationalists’ From Bill To Screen Military Enlistees
Someone in the U.S. Senate cut the words “white nationalists” from a measure in the defense authorization - after the House passed it. As the measure’s purpose is keeping white nationalists out of the military, we should know who in the Senate wants them in.
A measure in the National Defense Authorization Act meant to keep white nationalists out of the U.S. military no longer mentions “white nationalists” after Congress quietly altered the text after it initially passed the House.
The change... waters down a House-passed amendment meant to address the threat of white nationalists in the military. The House language was specifically drafted to encourage screening for white nationalist beliefs in military enlistees.
But after the Republican-controlled Senate passed its own version of the massive military spending bill and the two chambers’ bills were reconciled, the final NDAA instead requires the Department of Defense to study ways to screen military enlistees for “extremist and gang-related activity.”
The whole POINT of the thing was to keep White Nationalists OUT of the military - so WHO in the Senate wants them in enough to scrub the phrase "white nationalist" from the bill? A Republican or two who didn't want to alienate their white supremacist base.
Stripping the specific mention of “white nationalists” from the legislation could leave the door open for more white nationalists to join the military and could leave the U.S. military off the hook for what many critics say are lackluster efforts to screen enlistees for white nationalist beliefs.
It’s not clear who approved the language change or why. Senators on the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, including Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), did not respond to HuffPost’s requests for comment on the language.
It would behoove both Dem and Republican lawmakers to figure out who exactly changed this language, and it shouldn't be hard. Let's see who's serious about rooting out white nationalism in the military.
Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), the measure’s author, fears other lawmakers are not taking the threat of white nationalists in the military seriously.
“We cannot turn a blind eye to this growing problem which puts our national security and the safety of the brave men and women serving our country in jeopardy. It’s disappointing that Senate Republicans disagree,” said Rep. Aguilar
Academics and law enforcement officials have long warned of the specific threat posed by white nationalists who join the military, where they receive combat training they can use to inflict violence on civilians. White supremacists have long been attracted to the U.S. military, and often for good reason. In the 1970s, for example, a Department of Defense directive allowed service members to join the Ku Klux Klan.
Although military rules prohibit service members from committing acts of discrimination or engaging in extremist activity, an unnerving 2017 Military Times poll found that nearly 25% of American service members reported encountering white nationalists within their ranks.
The American people have a right to know which US Senator removed this language from the NDAA.