Barry Loudermilk: “Prior to the organizing of the current Joint Committee on the Library, Ranking Member Rodney Davis and I sent a letter…”

“Prior to the organizing of the current Joint Committee on the Library, Ranking Member Rodney Davis and I sent a letter to the Joint Committee on the Library to demand immediate action on North Carolina's pending request to replace the statue of Charles Brantley Aycock with the statue of Reverend Billy Graham. So far, the request has been ignored, but I can only assume it was because it would impede the ability to do what we are doing here today. But I am encouraged by the chair's commitment to act on that very quickly. I would also say that this isn't an isolated case. There are currently eight States with pending requests, including Arkansas, Florida, Missouri, Kansas, North Carolina, Nebraska, Utah, and Virginia. In fact, Georgia has just introduced in this last session a new piece of legislation to remove Stephens' statue with that of the late Representative John Lewis, which is receiving bipartisan support. In fact, the Republican Speaker of the House is the top cosponsor of that legislation. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Grothman).”