Roy Blunt: “reserving the right to object, let me say that we just got this bill assigned to the Rules Committee. The bill would…”

“reserving the right to object, let me say that we just got this bill assigned to the Rules Committee. The bill would have the effect of abandoning agreements we have entered into with the States and the States have entered into with us. I would certainly like to have some time to decide if we should have a hearing on this. I would like to get the opinion of people who are taking similar statues out of the building. I would also like to find out what other States have in mind as their part of the agreement. The Democratic leader just said that States and localities are removing these statues. Each of these States would have the right to remove this statue, and some are. This is an agreement with the States. It goes back to 1864. By 1933, Statuary Hall was full, and Congress, again, authorized this program by saying that these statues could be placed in the Capitol. It took until about 2000 until there were 100 statues from the States. States are limited to two from each State. With 50 States, there were 100 statues by 2000. At that point, the Congress passed another law providing a way that the States, for the first time, could take a statue out. Even in 2000, there was no suggestion then or before then that Congress would decide whether the statue that the State wanted to put in could be put into the building.…”