House Dems Find Way To Target Confederate Statues in New Spending Bill
Confederate statues would be removed from the Capitol under a provision in the Democrat House Appropriations Committee’s 2021 legislative spending bill draft released Monday.
The nearly $4.2 billion funding proposal would mandate the removal of monuments to Confederate generals and would also call into question those statues of people who have “unambiguous records of racial intolerance,” according to a news release from the Appropriations Committee.
The architects of the bill consider 19th-century vice president John Calhoun, as well as Roger Taney, the 5th chief justice of the United States, to be emblematic of racial intolerance, and called for their statues to be returned to donor states, the release said.
House Democrats have also set their sights on removing statues of early-20th-century North Carolina Gov. Charles Aycock and former Arkansas Senator James Paul Clark.
The statues, all located within Capitol bounds, would be returned to the states that contributed them, according to the bill.
The 2021 funding bill also includes a nearly $255 million salary boost to House officers and employees, a $1.5 million payout to the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and $464 million to Capitol Police — the same as the current budget year — with the stipulation that they increase transparency.
Language in the proposed bill allows for the hiring of DACA recipients in the legislative wing of the House, according to the release.
“Finally, I am especially proud that this funding bill allows DACA recipients to work in the halls of Congress,” Democratic Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, House Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee chairman, said in the release.
“The United States is the only country Dreamers have ever known. These young people deserve to work here, and the House of Representatives will be a better institution because of their service.”
The 2021 funding proposal is $207 million, 5.2 percent higher than 2020’s Appropriations Committee budget, according to the release.
President Donald Trump has roundly condemned the removal of Confederate monuments.
Very sad to see States allowing roving gangs of wise guys, anarchists & looters, many of them having no idea what they are doing, indiscriminately ripping down our statues and monuments to the past. Some are great works of art, but all represent our History & Heritage, both….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 25, 2020
Dozens of monuments have been torn down or vandalized across the country, according to a list compiled by The Hill.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last month ordered portraits of former officials with Confederate ties to be removed from the Capitol.
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