Speaker Boehner Calls for Review of Confederate Symbols at U.S. Capitol

PHOTO: Screen shot of Speaker Boehner from Thursday’s news conference. Video (below) from speaker.gov.

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Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Thursday called for a review of Confederate symbols at the U.S. Capitol.

Boehner made his remarks during his weekly news conference.

“Listen, we all witnessed the people of Charleston and the people of South Carolina come together in a respectful way to deal with, frankly, what was a very horrific crime and a difficult issue with the Confederate flag,” Boehner said Thursday at his weekly news conference. “I actually think it’s time for some adults here in the Congress to actually sit down and have a conversation about how to address this issue. I do not want this to become some political football.”

Read: Mayor: Alexandria City Council to Review City’s Confederate Symbols

Boehner sidelined a Republican-introduced piece of legislation that was designed to allow sales of Confederate flags at cemeteries and national parks. Congressman Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) gave an impassioned speech decrying the proposed amendment: “Mr. Speaker, had this federal battle flag prevailed in war 150 years ago, I would not be standing here. I would be a slave.”

The vote was set to take place today, the same day that South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is set to sign legislation removing the Confederate flag from flying at the Capitol building in South Carolina.

Debate over the flag rose in the weeks after Dylann Roof allegedly opened fire on a traditionally black Charleston church, killing nine, on June 17.

Roof was associated with hate groups and had posted pictures of himself with white supremacist symbols, including the confederate flag.

Watch a video from today’s news conference with Boehner below; the Speaker’s remarks about the Confederate flag begin at 12:15 in the video: