The House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to remove states of Confederate leaders from the Capitol, The New York Times reports.
The House voted 285 to 120, with only Republicans in opposition, to remove figures of Confederate leader Jefferson Davis and about a dozen other people linked to the Confederacy or white supremacist causes.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and 66 other Republicans joined with every Democrat to support the bill even as most Republicans opposed it.
“We can’t change history, but we can certainly make it clear that which we honor and that which we do not honor,” said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. “Symbols of hate and division have no place in the halls of Congress.”
But will it survive the Senate?
The bill now heads to the Senate where the razor-thin Democratic majority could force a vote on the legislation but, if the House GOP opposition is any indicator, the proposal could face a filibuster from Senate Republicans.
The bill comes after Congress voted to make Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery, a federal holiday.
Congress previously voted to override a veto from former President Donald Trump to strip the names of Confederate leaders from military bases.
Prior to the vote, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had the portraits of four speakers who served the Confederacy taken down from a lounge near the House chamber.
Conservatives oppose:
Many conservative Republicans spoke in opposition of the vote.
“It would mean a whole lot more to this body, as well as the American people, if the states who originally put those statues in here were the ones who now ask that they would be removed,” said Georgia Republican Barry Loudermilk.
Even McCarthy lashed out at Democrats despite voting for the bill, arguing that the Confederate figures were all Democrats.
“They are desperate to pretend their party has progressed from their days of supporting slavery, pushing Jim Crow laws and supporting the KKK,” he said.
