Two members of Congress send letter to NFL about Redskins name change

Senator Maria Cantwell is ready to take action to force the Redskins to change their name. (Bill Clark/Getty Images)

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), the chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, and Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), a member of the Chickasaw Nation, will send a letter to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on Monday telling him to announce his support for a name change for the Washington Redskins.

Here is a copy of the letter from the Washington Post.

Cantwell also said her committee will examine the NFL's tax-exempt status as a way to apply pressure to change the name.

"The National Football League can no longer ignore this and perpetuate the use of this name as anything but what it is: a racial slur," the letter read.

"You're getting a tax break for educational purposes, but you're still embracing a name that people see as a slur and encouraging it," Cantwell told The New York Times.

The Redskins have received "more than 7,000 letters and emails" in favor of keeping the name, including "almost 200 from people who identified themselves as Native Americans or as family members of Native Americans," the team said in a statement Monday.

Goodell has declined to take a formal stance on the debate, and Redskins owner Daniel Snyder has been adamant in saying the name will never change.

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