Confederate statues targeted for removal in series of House bills
Three bills to identify and remove Confederate monuments on federal land, including a privately funded statue of Robert E. Lee in Maryland, will get a hearing from a House Natural Resources subcommittee on Tuesday.
Rep. Anthony G. Brown, D-Md., is scheduled to speak on his bill to remove the Lee statue, which sits on the Antietam National Battlefield and has been vandalized with graffiti in support of the Black Lives Matter movement twice this summer. The battlefield is in the district of Rep. David Trone, D-Md., who, along with Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., is a co-sponsor of the legislation.
Also at Tuesday’s hearing of the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands, Rep. A. Donald McEachin, D-Va., will speak about his bill to inventory Confederate monuments under the control of the departments of Defense, Interior and Veterans’ Affairs. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., will speak on behalf of her bill to remove the statue of confederate Albert Pike, which protesters toppled and set on fire in June.
Efforts in Congress to remove the statues of men who fought to maintain slavery have accelerated in recent weeks, following the police killing of George Floyd and the spate of national and international protests that came after.
On Capitol Hill, the House Appropriations Committee voted 30-18 on July 10 to advance the fiscal 2021 Legislative Branch spending bill that would remove Confederate statues and two busts of people with racist histories from Capitol grounds. A Senate push to change the names of military bases that honor Confederate figures also has bipartisan support. And Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., ordered the removal in June of four portraits of her predecessors who were part of the Confederacy.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/confederate-statues-targeted-for-removal-in-series-of-house-bills/ar-BB16ZP2Y?li=BBnbfcL&ocid=DELLDHP
