House Committee Votes to Restore ‘Department of War,’ Reinstate Base Names

=In a charged late-night session that blended revisionist politics with a dash of common sense, the House Armed Services Committee narrowly voted to reinstate the Naming Commission’s recommendations and to officially rename the Pentagon’s bureaucracy to its original and far more honest title: the Department of War.

The amendment, introduced by Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas, passed alongside a separate measure from Democrat Marilyn Strickland of Washington that reimposes woke-era base renamings.

The vote split nearly down the middle, 29 to 27, exposing a sharp divide over whether America should continue erasing its own history or start reclaiming the strength and symbolism of the Armed Forces.

Strickland argued that President Trump and War Secretary Pete Hegseth ignored Congress by revising base names to honor new heroes with the same last names as former Confederate officers.

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The Trump administration, however, maintained that honoring modern Medal of Honor recipients like Fitz Lee—an African American Buffalo Soldier—was a far better reflection of the true American spirit than anything concocted by D.C.’s cultural commissars.

“The administration used the same stunt the commission rejected—finding new service members that share the same last name as the Confederate traitors,” Strickland claimed, airing grievances that somehow honoring heroic troops is offensive.

A few Republicans, including Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, threw their support behind Strickland’s measure. Bacon said he was following the precedent set in 2020 when Democrats and Republicans jointly pushed through the original renaming legislation, overriding Trump’s veto.

“We did it right then, and the Secretary came in here and put his thumb in our eye,” Bacon said, suggesting that President Trump’s corrective actions wounded the committee’s pride more than the nation’s heritage.

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On the other side, conservatives pushed back hard against what they called historical purging.

Rep. Pat Fallon of Texas reminded his colleagues that judging centuries-old figures through the moral lens of modern politics is foolish and destructive. “Are we going to rename this city next? Where does it end?” Fallon asked pointedly.

Rep. John McGuire of Virginia sided with Trump and Hegseth, calling their approach a “reasonable balance.” McGuire underscored that America’s military tradition must face its history honestly, not erase it. “Our history should be taught, not erased,” he said.

Strickland’s amendment revives all the commission’s politically correct designations—Fort Liberty for Fort Bragg, Fort Cavazos for Fort Hood, Fort Moore for Fort Benning, and so on—highlighting how bureaucrats believe new names can somehow cleanse history’s complexity.

The measure also renames Fort Gordon after Medal of Honor recipients Master Sgt. Gary Gordon and Sgt. First Class Randall Shughart, heroes of Mogadishu.

While Democrats lauded the symbolic nature of these changes, the bigger story came with Rep. Ronny Jackson’s bold amendment to officially rename the Pentagon’s sprawling bureaucracy as the Department of War.

“This name reflects the determination and resolve of our brave men and women of the U.S. military who aggressively fight to secure our national interests,” Jackson said. “Our military does much more than defend the homeland.”

Jackson’s measure is more than semantics—it restores honesty to the language of national defense. America does not maintain a military to “defend feelings.”

It fights wars, deters enemies, and destroys threats. President Trump recognized that when he issued an executive order in 2025 to bring back the title Department of War, signaling that peace comes through strength, not appeasement.

Predictably, the Left scoffed. Committee ranking member Adam Smith dismissed the change as “making no frickin’ difference whatsoever” and complained about the supposed expense of updating signage and letterheads. Typical Beltway logic—more concerned about office stationery than strategic clarity.

Historically, the Department of War was created in 1789 by President George Washington and existed until 1947 when President Harry Truman, in the name of bureaucratic consolidation, replaced it with “Defense.” Ever since, America’s warfighting spirit has been papered over with buzzwords and acronyms, while adversaries from Russia to China have faced no such identity crisis.

The committee also tackled another policy—banning hate symbols such as swastikas and nooses across all branches, including tattoos and personal equipment.

Conservatives generally supported that move as long as it didn’t morph into yet another social engineering crusade.

Officials clarified that the new policy aims to reaffirm, not dilute, the moral integrity of the military community.

Coast Guard representatives even had to reassert last year that classifying Nazi imagery as “potentially divisive” was a misunderstanding. Welcome to 2024, where bureaucrats need memos to explain that Nazi symbols are bad.

In the end, the night encapsulated everything about Congress in the Trump era—Democrats obsessed with virtue signaling, establishment Republicans torn between principle and optics, and sharp conservatives pushing a return to unapologetic American resolve.

Whether or not the full Congress approves these amendments, the message is clear: the Trump-Hegseth vision of a stronger, prouder, and more honest military identity is taking hold.

The words “Department of War” are back on Capitol Hill’s lips—and that alone signals America is done pretending that peace comes cheap.

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