GOP slows efforts to rename Senate building for McCain
A proposal WASHINGTON — to rename the Senate’s oldest office building for John McCain has received bipartisan support, but the effort appeared to slow Tuesday as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced he will form a bipartisan panel to solicit ideas on the best way to honor the late Arizona senator.
McCain “meant so much to so many of us,” inside the Senate and out, McConnell said, adding: “The Senate is eager to work on concrete ways to continue this momentum and provide a lasting tribute to this American hero long after this week’s observances are complete.”
Besides the proposal to rename the Russell Senate Office building, lawmakers may consider naming a committee room used by the Senate Armed Services Committee after McCain, who was the panel’s chairman, McConnell said. Another idea is to add McCain’s portrait to a reception room right off the Senate floor, joining such giants as Henry Clay, Daniel Webster and Robert Taft. Only seven senators are honored with portraits there.
McConnell was careful not to make a specific recommendation. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer had proposed renaming the Russell Senate Office building in McCain’s honor after the veteran Republican senator died Saturday from brain cancer.
The 109-year-old building is named after Sen. Richard Russell, a Georgia Democrat who, like McCain, chaired the Armed Services Committee. Russell, who died in 1971, was a segregationist and led Southern opposition to anti-lynching bills and other civil rights legislation, including the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Previously known simply as the Senate Office Building, it was renamed in Russell’s honor the year after his death.
While some Republicans are receptive to renaming the building, many urged caution.
Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who served with McCain for 31 years, said Monday he was in favor of “naming almost any building” for McCain, but added, “I’m not sure that I would make a decision on a specific building at this point.”
Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, who co-sponsored the measure, said he does “not want to get out ahead” before he talks to McCain’s family.
“There are a number of proposals coming forward about ways to honor John McCain. I think this would be a particularly good one, but I want to make sure the family is OK with it,” Flake said.
Georgia’s GOP Sen. David Perdue, whose own office was formerly used by Russell, said he’s unsure if residents back home would accept a name change for the building.
“This is Washington. There’s going to be 50 percent for something and 50 percent against something,” Perdue said Tuesday.
The Senate should spend time finding “the right way” to memorialize McCain’s service, Perdue said. “To kneejerk, to do anything — any suggestion — right now is premature,” he said.
Republicans backed McConnell’s plan to study the issue, with some saying McCain himself would appreciate the GOP leader’s commitment to “regular order,” including the process of committee work.
McCain “didn’t want ideas cooked up in some back room and sprung on the Senate,” said Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Republican senator.
Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee said that McCain deserves “a significant memorial” in the nation’s capital but that senators have time to decide what the best memorial is.
Fellow Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker said he was “all for” renaming the building in McCain’s honor but that “there’ll probably be some discussion about that” in both parties.