Lawmakers are seeking ways to honor the legacy of the late civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis
John LewisDemocrats call for McConnell to bring Voting Rights Act to floor in honor of Lewis Clyburn says if Trump wants to honor Lewis he should sign bill to restore Voting Rights Act Pressley: 'Especially painful' to lose Lewis 'at a new moment of racial reckoning' MORE (D-Ga.), from possibly lying in state in the Capitol to pushing for an expansion of voting rights that he spent his lifetime defending.
Democrats returning to Washington on Monday three days after Lewis died from pancreatic cancer were at turns emotional over the loss of their colleague, and adamant that Lewis will be honored in ways befitting his historic contributions to his country.
What form that takes remains very much in the air, in part because of the coronavirus pandemic.
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A towering figure like Lewis would normally receive the honor of lying in state in the Capitol rotunda, but it’s unclear how members of the public could pay their respects while the building is closed to tourists. Still, many lawmakers are pressing for one of Congress's rarest honors.
“If anybody deserves to lie in state here at the Capitol, it's John,” said Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), adding that one of his fondest moments in Congress was getting arrested with Lewis during a protest against former President Obama’s immigration policies.
“Not only was he the conscience of the Congress, but he also brought nobility to the position,” Grijalva said. “People like him are irreplaceable.”
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer
Steny Hamilton HoyerHouse to vote on creation of Smithsonian Latino museum Democrats may bring DHS bill to House floor House panel wraps up lightning-fast appropriations for 2021 MORE (D-Md.) seconded that idea, saying Lewis “certainly” should lie in state.
“And I think there are a number of other things we ought to do as well,” he added, without offering specifics.
Lewis's family has delayed their service plans until after the burial of the Rev. C.T. Vivian, another hero of the civil rights movement who also died Friday. Vivian's services are scheduled for Thursday.
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The House on Monday held a moment of silence that was noticeably punctuated by sniffles as lawmakers and staff alike — from Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Nancy PelosiWallace confronts Trump on 'mean tweets' about him and Fox News Pelosi, Blumenaur condemn 'egregious abuses of power' by Trump against Oregon protestors Graham on the passing of Lewis: 'He lived a consequential life' MORE (D-Calif.) to the House reading clerk — struggled to hold back tears.
Susan Cole, the clerk, began reading aloud in her usual neutral tone from the text of a resolution that “the House has heard with profound sorrow …” but then, in a rare display of emotion, she stopped.
Cole paused for a full 10 seconds to collect herself before completing the sentence: “... of the death of the Honorable John Lewis, a representative from the state of Georgia.”
“Every once in a while, there are moments on this floor where time stops. And there are no Democrats or Republicans, just Americans. And that was one of them,” Rep. Dean Phillips
Dean PhillipsCook shifts 20 House districts toward Democrats In the next COVID-19 bill, target innovation and entrepreneurship Small businesses receive much-needed Paycheck Protection Program fixes MORE (D-Minn.) said outside the House chamber afterward.
Recent political figures to receive the honor of lying in state or in honor include former Sen. John McCain
John Sidney McCainThe Memo: Can new campaign manager help Trump? Trump's new campaign manager brings ties to GOP establishment Most in new poll say Biden running mate won't influence their vote MORE (R-Ariz.), Rep. Elijah Cummings
Elijah Eugene CummingsRubio mistakenly tweets tribute to Lewis with picture of late Elijah Cummings Facial recognition tools under fresh scrutiny amid police protests The sad spectacle of Trump's enablers MORE (D-Md.) and President George H.W. Bush. All drew crowds of mourners who waited outside for hours to pay their respects.
Phillips suggested that there could be ways to have Lewis lie in state and still allow members of the public to enter the Capitol with some social distancing measures amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“It can be done safely, in my estimation, with masks and distancing and fewer than 50 people in the rotunda at a time. I think considering these times and that man, we should do everything possible to accommodate that,” Phillips said.
Rep. John Yarmuth
John Allen YarmuthKaren Bass's star rises after leading police reform push Ex-CBO director calls for more than trillion in coronavirus stimulus spending Rep slams 'vulgar images' and 'racist words' that disrupted virtual youth anti-violence event MORE (D-Ky.) proposed yet another option to honor Lewis, suggesting that the Smithsonian's Museum of African American History find a place for an exhibit about the man who chaired the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, was the youngest speaker at the 1963 March on Washington, and suffered a brutal skull fracture at the hands of a police officer while marching on “Bloody Sunday” in 1965.
Rep. Kevin Brady
Kevin Patrick BradySupreme Court rulings reignite Trump oversight wars in Congress House fires back at Trump by passing ObamaCare expansion Congress set for fight over expiring unemployment relief MORE (Texas), the senior Republican on the Ways and Means Committee, where Lewis held a senior position, said one of his proudest moments in Congress was dedicating a committee room in honor of the late Rep. Sam Johnson
Samuel (Sam) Robert JohnsonSam Johnson: Fighter for the greater good House pays tribute to late Congressman Sam Johnson on the floor The Hill's Morning Report - Presented by Facebook - US virus deaths exceed 100,000; Pelosi pulls FISA bill MORE (R-Texas), a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for almost seven years.
“I think we'd love to see something like that for John, given his contributions to our country and the Congress,” Brady said.
Democrats want to memorialize Lewis with legislation that advances the human rights causes to which Lewis dedicated his life.
At the top of that list is legislation to update the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which Lewis helped usher into law with the “Bloody Sunday” march in Selma, Ala., just months earlier. The House passed the bill last December, but Senate Republicans have refused to consider it.
“That would be the appropriate way to honor John Lewis, is for the Senate to take up the Voting Rights Act and name it for John Lewis,” Pelosi said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“Some of the most meaningful ways that we can honor the legacy of Congressman Lewis is through legislation that enacts meaningful change,” said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Alexandria Ocasio-CortezThe Memo: Muted conventions may scramble 2020 race Hillicon Valley: Russian hackers return to spotlight with vaccine research attack | Twitter says 130 accounts targeted in this week's cyberattack | Four fired, dozens suspended in CBP probe into racist, sexist Facebook groups Four fired, dozens suspended in CBP probe into racist, sexist Facebook groups MORE (D-N.Y.).
Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.), who entered Congress along with Lewis and Pelosi in 1987, agreed that the Voting Rights Act update was a good start.
“I don't think we could ever do enough for John. That's my real feeling about all of this,” he said. “[But] getting that voting rights legislation out of the Senate would be crucial — that would be a good first step, to demonstrate commitment and sincerity for all the things he lived and ultimately ended up dying for.”
The House had already planned before Lewis’s death to vote Wednesday on legislation to remove statues of Confederates and other white supremacists in the Capitol in light of the recent protests over racial injustice.
That vote will take on even more significance amid calls to rename the Edmund Pettus Bridge — the site of “Bloody Sunday” currently named after a Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan leader — after Lewis. And some lawmakers suggested that Georgia — which has a statue on display in the Capitol of Alexander Hamilton Stephens, the Confederacy’s vice president — consider a monument to Lewis instead.
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Colleagues recalled how Lewis served as a gentle, calming presence who frequently invoked his civil rights activism for guiding legislation through Congress.
Rep. John Larson
John Barry LarsonBipartisan bill introduced to require TSA to take temperature checks Congress must act now to fix a Social Security COVID-19 glitch and expand, not cut, benefits Encouraging research and development can drive America's recovery MORE (D-Conn.) helped Lewis organize a sit-in on the House floor in 2016 to push for gun control legislation after a shooting at an Orlando nightclub. Lewis at the time called for his colleagues to “use nonviolence to fight gun violence and inaction.”
“It went from a small group to everybody realized what he represents,” Larson recounted.
In 2010, when Larson served as the House Democratic caucus chairman, he presided over what he called a “very emotional” closed-door meeting with then-President Obama as they prepared to pass the Affordable Care Act.
The day before the caucus meeting, protesters had hurled racial epithets at Lewis and two other Black lawmakers, Reps. Emanuel Cleaver (Mo.) and André Carson (Ind.), adding further to the tensions. But Lewis counseled his colleagues that Martin Luther King Jr. always reminded people in the civil rights movement to stay focused, just as he believed they should with what would become Obama’s signature legislative accomplishment.
“Even when tensions were high and they could go the other way, he calmed down other people. He calmed down the entire caucus,” Larson said. “He practiced what he preached: peaceful resistance, keeping your eye on the prize and staying together.”
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