Rep. Marilyn Strickland says a bipartisan provision she authored to prevent U.S. military bases from being named after Confederate officers was removed from the final version of the fiscal 2026 defense authorization bill after pressure from President Donald Trump.
The Washington Democrat said the language had survived months of negotiations and had been included in both the House and Senate versions of the annual defense measure. According to congressional sources, leaders on the Armed Services committees in both parties had agreed to keep the provision in the final compromise.
But as negotiations over the bill wrapped up, Trump threatened to veto the legislation if the language remained. Speaker Mike Johnson ultimately agreed to strip it from the package.
“Speaker Johnson and the President killed my bipartisan amendment that passed in committee — at the last minute,” Strickland said in an email. “They are choosing to honor Confederate traitors, who fought to uphold the institution of slavery and lost a war, rather than supporting our servicemembers — 40 percent of whom are people of color.”
Despite her objections, Strickland voted for the final bill, which passed the House on Dec. 10.
Strickland has emerged as one of Congress’ most prominent voices on military issues, a natural fit for the representative of Washington’s 10th Congressional District. The district includes Joint Base Lewis-McChord, one of the nation’s largest military installations and home to more than 29,000 active-duty service members. Stretching across the southern Puget Sound, the district also includes Tacoma, nearby suburbs and the state capital of Olympia.
The daughter of a military family, Strickland was born in Seoul, South Korea, and spent part of her childhood in Virginia and Alaska before her family settled in Tacoma after her father retired from the military.
Before entering politics, Strickland worked in business, including jobs at Starbucks, the American Cancer Society and an advertising agency. She later served on the Tacoma City Council and as mayor of Tacoma before winning election to Congress in 2020. Last month, the Senate approved another Strickland measure requiring the Department of Veterans Affairs to regularly review life insurance coverage for veterans and service members to account for inflation.
