Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Tuesday defended his decision to let a bipartisan committee decide how to establish a permanent tribute to the late John McCain, instead of quickly renaming the Russell Senate Office Building after him as some want.
McConnell wants the yet-to-be appointed group of senators to follow a longtime tradition of considering a variety of options for honoring a late colleague. In doing so, he is resisting a push from Sens. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to rename the Russell building.
“I was not notified in advance of the suggestion the minority leader had, but the way we have approached this kind of thing in the past has been on a thoroughly bipartisan basis,” McConnell said.
McConnell said he would appoint the panel and it would begin work after Labor Day “to think thoroughly through the appropriate way of honoring our colleague.”
McCain died Saturday of brain cancer. He is a former Vietnam prisoner of war and served for decades in the Senate. When he died, he was chairman of the Armed Services Committee.
Suggestions for a permanent tribute to McCain include naming the committee room after him, or hanging his portrait in the gilded Senate reception room off the chamber.
Meanwhile, the Senate’s Georgia representatives are rejecting the Flake-Schumer idea of immediately renaming the building, which now honors a former senator and governor of their state, Richard Russell. Russell was a Democratic senator for nearly four decades who defended segregation.
“Following regular order is the thing to do,” Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., said Tuesday in support of McConnell’s plan.
Schumer told reporters he and Flake sent a letter to senators Tuesday asking them to support the name change for the office building.
“I think it’s the most appropriate way to honor Sen. McCain and we are going to work to see that that can get done in a bipartisan way,” he said.
But Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said even McCain would protest simply changing the office building without bipartisan consideration.
“He’d be the first person if he were here, to say we need to put this through a process,” Blunt said.
[Also read: An emotional Lindsey Graham delivers final tribute to John McCain]
