NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - The Latest on the state lawmakers withholding funds for Memphis, Tennessee, as punishment for the removal of two Confederate statues (all times local):
4:20 p.m.
The mayor of Memphis, Tennessee, says state lawmakers’ move to withhold funds for the city’s bicentennial celebration as punishment for the removal of Confederate statues should not affect planning for the event.
Mayor Jim Strickland said in a statement Wednesday that the House’s decision to remove $250,000 from its budget bill “should not have an impact on the City of Memphis’ joint bicentennial celebration with Shelby County in 2019, as this money was never in our budget.”
On Tuesday, the House voted on a budget amendment that removed the $250,000. The move drew vehement protests from Memphis lawmakers.
The Senate budget bill, which never contained money for the bicentennial, was approved Wednesday.
Memphis used a loophole in a state law to remove the statues of Nathan Bedford Forrest and Jefferson Davis from two parks in December.
2:14 p.m.
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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