House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy introduced a bill Thursday that would penalize state and local governments that don’t protect U.S. statues and monuments.
Introduced alongside House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jim Jordan, Ohio Republican, and Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Ranking Member Sam Graves, Missouri Republican, the bill would disqualify state and local governments from receiving federal historic preservation and transit capital investment grants if they don’t protect targeted monuments.
“Public monuments are indispensable because they tell the American story. It is wrong to erase our history. We should be learning from it,” Mr. McCarthy, California Republican, said in a statement. “Instead, leftwing mobs in cities across the country are destroying statues of General Grant, St. Serra, Christopher Columbus, and abolitionists. This is lawlessness in its purest and most unacceptable form.”
“Yet too many liberal mayors and governors won’t restore order or arrest the rioters, the most basic duties of government,” he added.
President Trump last month signed an executive order cracking down on individuals caught vandalizing or destroying statues, which he touted at his Fourth of July speech at Mount Rushmore.
Meanwhile, House Democrats, led by Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland introduced a bill earlier this week that would remove the bust of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, who wrote the 1857 Dred Scott decision upholding slavery.
It would also remove statues of John C. Calhoun, Charles B. Aycock and John C. Clarke from Statuary Hall “because of those individuals’ role in defending slavery, segregation, and white supremacy,” while requiring states to replace statutes of any individual who served in the Confederacy.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, argued those that served in the Confederacy are held to a different standard by actively fighting against the Union, unlike leaders such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, who are also facing public backlash for holding slaves.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, has brushed off the Democrats’ push as an attempt to “airbrush” the Capitol.
Lawmakers’ moves around statues come ahead of the November 2020 election as the country continues to grapple with escalating racial tensions and its historic ties to slavery. In May, the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man in Minnesota, ignited outrage and protests.
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