Pelosi calls for removal of Confederate statues from Capitol

    By
  • KEVIN FREKING, Associated Press
    • August 17, 2017
A statue of Jefferson Davis, (left), is on display in Statuary Hall on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 24, 2015. The statue was given to the National Statuary Hall Collection in the U.S. Capitol by Mississippi in 1931. Davis served the nation in many positions before being appointed president of the Confederate States during the Civil War, including Secretary of War, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and a member of the U.S. Senate. (Susan Walsh/AP Photo)

A statue of Jefferson Davis, (left), is on display in Statuary Hall on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 24, 2015. The statue was given to the National Statuary Hall Collection in the U.S. Capitol by Mississippi in 1931. Davis served the nation in many positions before being appointed president of the Confederate States during the Civil War, including Secretary of War, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and a member of the U.S. Senate. (Susan Walsh/AP Photo)

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is calling for the removal of Confederate statues from the U.S. Capitol as the contentious debate over the appropriateness of such memorials moves to the halls of Congress.

Pelosi says she is calling on Speaker Paul Ryan to join Democrats in supporting legislation to remove the Confederate statues. She says the statues in the Capitol should “embody our highest ideals as Americans, expressing who we are and who we aspire to be as a nation.”

Each state is allowed to place two statues in the Capitol. Doug Andres, a spokesman for Ryan, says the display of statues is a decision for the states to make.

Sen. Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, says he will sponsor legislation to remove Confederate statues from the Capitol building.

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