Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) slammed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for using a loophole to rename military bases, calling the move “stupid as hell.”
Hegseth has renamed two military bases so far using the names of U.S. servicemembers whose surnames matched their earlier Confederate namesakes to sidestep a law prohibiting the Department of Defense from naming bases after Confederate leaders.
Fort Bragg, which was originally named to honor Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg, was renamed Fort Liberty during the Biden administration. But Hegseth renamed the base Fort Bragg in honor of World War II paratrooper Roland Bragg.
He made a similar move in Georgia where Fort Benning, which was renamed Fort Moore in 2023, was renamed Fort Benning in honor of World War I veteran Cpl. Fred Benning, instead of Confederate Gen. Henry Benning.
“I think they’re trying to be too cute by Hegseth on this, saying, ‘Well, it’s Bragg, but it’s a different Bragg,’” Bacon told USA Today. “To me, it looks stupid as hell.”
Bacon co-sponsored a bipartisan bill to prohibit U.S. base names honoring Confederate figures. The bill became law in 2021.
One year later, the Defense Department under the Biden administration implemented recommendations of a bipartisan Naming Commission, renaming posts to honor figures such as five-star general and former President Dwight Eisenhower, USA Today noted.
Hegseth reversed those changes.
“Congress has made it clear where we stood,” Bacon said, adding the re-renamings “fly in the face of what Congress intended.”
Bacon, who is retiring at the end of this term, said Hegseth’s actions have opened the door for a future Democratic president to also ignore Congress and “to change them all back.”
