Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.) set off a firestorm Thursday with a stunning choice of words to explain an amendment he was pitching for the National Defense Authorization Act, Forbes reported.
“Crane said his amendment to the NDAA would have prevented ‘race, gender, religion, or political affiliations,’ from being used in the recruitment of military members, adding the amendment had ‘nothing to do” with ‘whether colored people, or Black people, or anybody can serve,” Forbes reported.
Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), who is Black, “responded on the floor that Crane’s remarks were offensive and very inappropriate and move to have his offensive words stricken from the record," the report said.
“Crane later claimed he meant to say, 'people of color,’” Forbes reported. But it also noted that Crane’s amendment was one of several submitted Thursday centered around culture war issues, as the House passed multiple amendments that may hinder the passage of the must-pass NDAA.”
That context wasn’t lost upon angry legislators who took to Twitter, apparently not buying Crane’s curious explanation for his comments:
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) tweeted, “The GOP is not even hiding the racism anymore.”
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) tweeted: “You can’t make this up. This is who these people are, and who they’ve always been.”
Rep. Don Beyer tweeted about Crane’s comment, saying, “A House Republican just referred to Black Americans serving in our military as ‘colored people.’ In 2023.”
As Raw Story reported, Crane has been allied with fellow Arizona Reps. Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs on various far-right causes, including a recent QAnon-inspired hearing on COVID-19 conspiracies.
