“I don’t feel I should apologize for the passage of or the failure to pass any legislation by the U.S. Senate. But I deplore and regret that lynchings occurred and that those committing them were not punished,” [Thad Cochran (R-Miss.)] said in a statement last week.
In an interview with his state’s largest paper, the Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, he pointedly noted that the paper had not apologized for its 50 years of editorials in support of segregation.
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who, like Cochran, would have voted “aye” if there had been a roll call vote on the matter, said that there were better ways to handle the issue, such as pushing forward-looking legislative issues rather than apologizing for previous inactions.
“The best way for the United States Senate to condemn lynching is to get to work on legislation that would offer African Americans and other Americans better access to good schools, quality health care and decent jobs,” he said in a statement inserted into the Congressional Record.
Rarely has a nonbinding Senate resolution with such broad bipartisan support turned into a touchstone for controversy after its passage by a voice vote. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and liberal activists have made it an issue by accusing Republicans of not supporting the measure aggressively enough.
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