NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — After Memphis, Tennessee, removed Confederate statues from city parks last year, the state Senate is moving forward with a $37.5 billion budget that includes no money for the city’s upcoming bicentennial celebration.
Senators on Wednesday did it without acrimony, unlike the House, where Memphis lawmakers howled in protest when Republican leaders stripped out $250,000 for the celebration of the city’s 200th birthday.
On Tuesday, the House voted on a last-minute amendment attached to the budget bill that removed the $250,000 that was to go Memphis. The Senate budget bill never contained any money for the Memphis celebration.
Lawmakers in Tennessee’s Republican-dominated Legislature had vowed to punish Memphis for using a loophole to take down the monuments under cover of darkness.
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