Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has already been outspoken about removing statues and busts of Confederates from the U.S. Capitol and now she says that âthere will be legislation that will come forwardâ on the issue.
Asked during a Wednesday interview with CNN if she wished that she had removed the statues during her first tenure as speaker, Pelosi said âWell, I removed Robert E. Lee I put him down ⌠into the crypt.â
She continued, âRight now the mood in the country is so completely different and the desire to rid ourselves of any of these symbols of bigotry and hatred is much stronger. There will be legislation that will come forward and hopefully it could pass the House and Senate and be signed by the president.â
Pelosi said that she will have announcements about potential legislation on Thursday.
She added, âThere are, I think itâs eleven statues in the Capitol. Now, theyâre sent there by their states and so their states determine who represents them in the Capitol. But I think now with the mood in the country, it is such that these states are going to have to rethink.â
The Speaker said, âThey can send them, but I donât know that we have to display them. Thatâs the discussion weâll be involved in. I decided that we werenât displaying Robert E. Lee when I was speaker.â
She noted that Rosa Parks and Sojourner Truth are statues in the Capitol, saying, âWe tried to, shall we say, diversify the manifestations of the American people that are in the Capitol.â
This is not the first time that Pelosi has pushed for the removal of Confederate statues under the Capitol dome. In a recent letter to the Joint Committee on the Library, she wrote âTheir statues pay homage to hate, not heritage. They must be removed.â
