Lawmakers are taking steps to stop Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth from reinstating Confederate-associated names on Army installations. The dispute is tied to the annual defense policy bill, which passed the Republican-led House last week and included a measure halting Hegseth’s actions.
Members said the congressional commission whose work concluded in 2023 should stand; it renamed posts for women, minorities, generals and military families, according to The Washington Post.
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Earlier in 2025, Hegseth reversed the new designations, restoring Fort Liberty in North Carolina to Fort Bragg and Fort Moore in Georgia to Fort Benning. Pentagon officials argued the reverted names now commemorate World War II paratrooper Roland Bragg and World War I veteran Fred Benning, not Confederates.
Lawmakers from both parties said the effort sidestepped the 2021 law mandating the removal of Confederate-linked names.
How are lawmakers responding?
Members of both parties have introduced amendments to stop Hegseth’s renaming effort.
Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia advanced a measure targeting three bases in his state, and Georgia’s Democratic senators pressed to include two sites in theirs. In the House, Democratic Rep. Marilyn Strickland of Washington led an amendment that passed with unexpected bipartisan support.
Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican and retired Air Force general, said he supported Strickland in blocking Hegseth’s plan. “They were bad generals. They were traitors to the country,” he said.
Bacon also criticized Hegseth’s approach, saying it looked “stupid as hell” to reuse the surnames of Confederate leaders with new honorees.
He wasn’t the only Republican. Rep. Derek Schmidt of Kansas also backed Strickland’s amendment.
What is the Pentagon’s position?
Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson said the base names “should have never been changed in the first place,” adding the department honors history rather than erases it, the Post reports. Hegseth has argued that the reversals are about preserving history.
“This is about restoring all bases to their original names because we’re not about erasing history,” Hegseth said during a Senate hearing in 2025.
The defense secretary also claimed that using other soldiers with the same last names keeps the Pentagon within congressional limits. However, lawmakers questioned that rationale.
Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine told Hegseth that the changes returned names of “people who took up arms against their country on behalf of slavery.”
What are the wider implications?
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The Pentagon restored Fort Bragg and Fort Benning’s original names by honoring WWII paratrooper Roland Bragg and WWI veteran Fred Benning, not Confederates.
Families who had bases named in their honor expressed frustration at seeing those recognitions undone. The Moore family publicly criticized the reversal. Fort Benning was renamed Fort Moore after Army Lt. Gen Hal Moore and his wife, Julia, in 2023.
“All I can do is pray that everyone sees that it’s a horrible workaround to preserve the history of the Confederacy,” Steve Moore, son of Hal and Julia Moore, said.
Some in Congress cautioned that switching names repeatedly burdens the military and local economies. They added that this year’s defense bill could be the last chance to undo Hegseth’s changes.
