Billy Long, Smith, Graves, Hartzler, Luetkemeyer vote to keep Confederate statues in Capitol

When the U. S. House of Representatives voted 305 to 113 Wednesday to remove Confederate statutes from the public area of the Capitol, 72 Republicans joined 232 Democrats and one Independent to approve the resolution.

Only one of those Republicans, Second District Congresswoman Ann Wagner, came from the Missouri GOP contingent.

Voting against the measure were Seventh District Congressman Billy Long, Third District Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer, Fourth District Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler, Sixth District Congressman Sam Graves and Eighth District Congressman Jason Smith.

Joining Wagner in voting for the measure were First District Congressman Lacy Clay and Fifth District Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, both Democrats.

The measure also called for the removal of the statue of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney, author of the Dred Scott decision which said the U. S. Constitution was not meant to include citizenship for blacks and replace it with a statue of Thurgood Marshall, the first African American Supreme Court justice.

The following summary for HR 7573 is featured on the U. S. House of Representatives website:

This bill provides for the removal of certain statues and a bust from display in the Capitol.

The bill directs the Architect of the Capitol (AOC) to remove the bust of Roger Brooke Taney in the Old Supreme Court chamber of the Capitol and replace it with a bust of Thurgood Marshall to be obtained by the Joint Committee on the Library.

The AOC must remove the statues of Charles Brantley Aycock, John Caldwell Calhoun, and James Paul Clarke from areas of the Capitol accessible to the public. Furthermore, the AOC must store each statue until it and the state that provided the statue arrange for its return to the state.

Additionally, the bill prohibits the display of any statue in National Statuary Hall of persons who served as an officer or voluntarily with the Confederate States of America or of the military forces or government of a state while it was in rebellion against the United States; 

requires the AOC to identify such statues and arrange for their transfer and deliverance from the Capitol to the Smithsonian Institution, subject to the approval of the joint committee;

requires the Smithsonian to follow its preexisting policies and procedures regarding the storage and display of such transferred statues; 

requires each statue to be returned to the providing state, including its ownership, if the state requests and agrees to pay any transportation-related costs; and 

permits a state that has a statue removed to replace the statue.