UPDATE: 5/19/16

The House of Representatives voted today 265-159, to ban the display of the Confederate flag on flagpoles at Veteran cemeteries. The vote blocks descendants and anyone else from flying the flag over mass graves, even on days the flag displays are permitted.

Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn is coming for the Citadel Military College of Charleston, S.C and taking his grievances over the Confederate Flag all the way to Washington. Clyburn is bringing the debate over the display of the Confederate flag in South Carolina to his colleagues in Congress.

The issues regarding the Confederate Flag being raised in South Carolina run deep. Clyburn is adamantly speaking against the symbol, which he calls “a symbol of hate, racial oppression, and resistance to the rule of law.” Due to these beliefs from him and so many of his constituents, Clyburn has proposed and amendment that would bar federal funds from going to any senior Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) programs at institutions where the Confederate flag is being displayed.

Currently, if you travel onto The Citadel’s campus in downtown Charleston, the Confederate Flag flies proudly at the Summerall Chapel. Clyburn believes the flag was never a symbol of the official flag of the confederacy and is bothered that is still flies in his congressional district.

Rep. Jim Clyburn is also calling out S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson who barred the flag’s removal citing the Heritage Act passed in 2000. This act, according to Wilson bars the Citadel from removing the flag from a prominent place on campus. Clyburn’s is telling Washington, “Americans’ tax dollars should be directed to institutions free of symbols of hatred” and should not be covered by the Heritage Act.

Last summer, The Citadel Board of Visitors voted 9-3 to remove the flag, but acknowledged it would require an amendment to the Heritage Act by the state legislature.

Both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have publically demanded the flags come down at The Citadel. Clyburn is serious, and this could be detrimental to anyone enlisted in the ROTC and considering attending The Citadel. Clyburn says, “any vote to block or weaken the amendment is a vote to support the continued display of the battle flag at The Citadel and across the country.”