Senate vote to remove Confederate statues from U.S. Capitol fails
Workers for The Virginia Department of General Services install concrete barriers around the statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee on Monument Avenue Wednesday, June 17, 2020, in Richmond, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 1:35 PM PT — Thursday, June 18, 2020
Calls to remove Confederate statues from the U.S. Capitol were shot down in the Senate this week.
Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) brought a vote on the matter to a close Thursday, voting against the removal of the statues.
Blunt has said he’d “like to get the opinion of states who are taking out similar statues” before voting. He further suggested holding a hearing on the matter.
“I think that today’s action would violate our agreements with the states. I frankly think my friend from New Jersey encouraging the governors, encouraging the speakers of the House to do what they have every right in the Congress, in fact, in 2000 gave them the right to do. The minority leader was the chairman of the committee that determines all of this just a handful of years ago and took no actions to do what the Congress is talking about doing today. With that in mind, Madam President, I object.” – Roy Blunt, U.S. Senator
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) were the ones who brought the vote forward in a now failed attempt to get unanimous consent.