[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 96 (Thursday, June 5, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3244-S3245]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                 Unanimous Consent Request--S. Res. 264

  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. President, the U.S. Navy has developed many 
traditions over its centuries of existence. Among them is the method of 
naming its ships. Most, though not all, aircraft carriers are named 
after U.S. Presidents--the USS Truman, the Eisenhower, the Ford. 
Nuclear submarines are named after States--the VA class and the Ohio 
class, for example.
  The Navy is now partway through building its newest class of fleet 
replenishment oilers. These are the ships that resupply fuel to the 
rest of the Navy fleet and the aircraft operating aboard those ships. 
These are the John Lewis class.
  I am immensely proud to have been a colleague of Congressman John 
Lewis's in the House of Representatives, where I served alongside him 
from 2000 until his passing in 2020. I was lucky enough, through our 
shared service, to consider him a friend. He was just a wonderful, 
genuine, heroic, brave, courageous, and upbeat individual. I never saw 
John Lewis have a bad day, never saw him anything other than optimistic 
about the future of our country.
  I have another source of pride. The State of California, home to 
General Dynamics National Steel and Shipbuilding Company, NASSCO, is 
where the oilers are being built. The ships in this class are, in 
addition to the John Lewis, named after California Governor and Supreme 
Court Justice Earl Warren, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, and Navy 
lieutenant Harvey Milk, the San Francisco gay rights pioneer. Four more 
ships are under construction: the USNS Lucy Stone, Sojourner Truth, 
Thurgood Marshall, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The Harriet Tubman and 
Dolores Huerta are under contract. The Navy reports that the next two 
ships in the class will be named after Joshua Goldberg and Thomas 
Parham.
  The Navy has seen fit to honor these civil rights icons who spent 
their lives fighting for the rights of the American people by naming 
ships in their honor. We learned this week, however, that the Secretary 
of Defense does not share the view that these leaders are worthy of the 
honor of recognition that the Navy has bestowed upon them.
  According to a statement from a spokesman, it is better to name 
defense installations and assets that are more aligned with ``the 
warrior ethos''--whatever they mean by that.
  The Secretary of Defense, who testified at his confirmation hearing 
that today constitutes ``the most dangerous moment we have been in 
since the end of the Cold War, and possibly since World War II''--that 
Secretary of Defense is spending his time ordering Department officials 
to remove the name of Harvey Milk from the second oiler in the John 
Lewis class of ships. Other ships may be similarly renamed.
  Harvey Milk joined the Navy as a diver after graduating from college 
and saw action in the Korean war while serving on a rescue submarine 
from 1952 until 1954. He was forced to resign with an other than 
honorable discharge rather than being court-martialed for being gay.
  In 1977, he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors as 
the first openly gay official in the country. On November 27, 1978, 
Milk was tragically shot by a fellow supervisor, Dan White.
  As many Senators know, our former colleague Dianne Feinstein, in 
whose seat I am now deeply honored to serve, was the first to find 
Harvey Milk's body after he had been shot to death and to whom the job 
of holding San Francisco together then fell.
  Dianne Feinstein was a cosponsor of the USNS Harvey Milk, with her 
name welded into the hull. One wonders if the Secretary of Defense will 
try to remove that as well.
  I suspect it is no coincidence that the Pentagon released the news of 
the renaming of the USNS Harvey Milk at the beginning of Pride Month 
and while Washington, DC, hosts World Pride. You can draw a straight 
line between the Department of Defense in this administration removing 
Jackie Robinson from its official site and its terminating the first 
woman to lead the military services and a well-respected African-
American Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, all without cause.
  I don't understand how these removals promote the ``warrior ethos.'' 
I don't understand how it promotes the ``warrior ethos'' to rename the 
military installation Fort Bragg, using the fig leaf that it is now 
named for a different person of that name than the Confederate general 
for whom it is really connected. Engaging in such duplicitous word 
games seems more weak than warrior.
  The U.S. Senate should not stand by silently while U.S. civil rights 
icons--from John Lewis to Cesar Chaves, to Dolores Huerta, to Harriet 
Tubman--are erased from the Navy just as the Pentagon has erased so 
many other figures from American history on its websites.
  And so, today, I offer a simple resolution with my California 
colleague Alex Padilla. It says that the Senate believes it is 
important and worthwhile to honor civil rights leaders by naming ships 
after them and expresses the Senate's view that the Department of 
Defense should not seek to remove these names.
  Mr. President, as if in legislative session and notwithstanding rule 
XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the 
consideration of S. Res. 264, submitted earlier today; that the 
resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the 
motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with 
no intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from North Carolina.
  Mr. BUDD. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, the naming of

[[Page S3245]]

naval ships is a long and proud naval tradition that goes back to 
America's first frigates commissioned by Congress. Then, as now, the 
naming of a ship is not just a top-down affair. It demands the input 
and consideration of the journey men and women who constructed her, as 
well as her prospective crew and captain, right down to the lowest 
ranking sailor.
  Those individuals are known in naval tradition as plank owners, and 
that title brings with it an honor that they were the first to sail 
aboard a ship that will serve our country for generations. That is an 
honor that transcends political partisanship and differences of 
opinion, and it belongs to the sailors.
  It is no secret that the last administration took a top-down approach 
to the naming of our newest class of USNS oilers. In doing so, they 
broke with important naval customs and traditions and robbed the USNS 
plank owners of the chance to name these vessels after what mattered 
most to them.
  It is true that civilian leaders in Congress and the White House have 
always had a say in ship naming as well. George Washington selected the 
names of our first six frigates, but he did so from a list provided by 
the plank owners--the ships' crews and captains.
  Navy tradition, like the name of a ship, lives in the hearts and 
minds of every sailor, and these traditions are vital to preserving the 
morale and fighting spirit of our forces. Resetting the stage is not a 
political issue. It is bringing things back in line with naval custom 
and tradition. It will allow the Secretary of the Navy to consider the 
input of new ship plank owners so that he can name this class of ships 
after the things that matter most to America's sailors.
  For these reasons, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The objection is heard.
  The Senator from California.
  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. President, I appreciate the comments of my colleague.
  Past Presidents and Secretaries of the Navy have named these ships. 
They have named them after civil rights leaders: John Lewis, Thurgood 
Marshall.
  Joshua Goldberg, who lived from 1896 to 1994, was drafted into the 
Russian Army in World War I, emigrated to the United States, and became 
the first Jewish rabbi to volunteer for naval service in World War II, 
rising to the rank of captain.
  Thomas Parham, who lived from 1920 to 2007, was ordained in 1944 and 
served in shore assignments during World War II and then returned to 
Active Duty as a chaplain during the Korean war, serving in Japan, and 
becoming the Navy's first African-American sailor promoted to captain.
  These are inspiring people. Honoring them by naming ships after them 
tells young people that the United States welcomes them--all of them.
  Naming ships may fall to the executive branch, but I think Congress, 
with its constitutional duty to raise armies and navies, has an 
important role to play.
  All this resolution does is express approval of the existing names. 
It does not force the Navy to keep them. But it says that the 
individuals that have been named are worthy of that honor and 
distinction, and I would urge my colleagues to support the resolution.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.