Hill alone in backing removal of Confederate statues in D.C.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. French Hill was the only member of the state’s all-Republican congressional delegation this week who voted to remove Confederate statues from the U.S. Capitol complex.

Each state is entitled to place two statues in Statuary Hall or elsewhere in the complex.

Hill said he was proud that the Arkansas Legislature had already voted to remove its statues and replace them with statues of country music star Johnny Cash and civil-rights leader Daisy Bates.

Fundraising to pay for the project is already underway.

“I think it’s important for the two statues in the Capitol to reflect the history of our country, the culture of our country and reflect the best aspirations of our country,” Hill said Thursday.

The lawmaker from Little Rock also supported the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act this week, which includes a provision stripping the names of secessionist leaders from military bases.

President Donald Trump has threatened to veto the measure — which passed the House this week — if the military base renaming is included.

A similar provision is included in the Senate version, which passed Thursday.

Asked whether he would vote to override such a veto, Hill said, “I would, because I think the [defense authorization bill] is not a perfect bill. But it’s a good bill. It’s a bipartisan bill. It contains all of our defense priorities. It’s always a very hard and challenging process to reflect our defense strategy in both houses of Congress on a bipartisan basis. The leadership in both houses of Congress works very hard to do that,” he said.

Hill’s opponent, state Sen. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock, called Wednesday’s statue vote a “common-sense step.”

U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford voted against the Confederate statue bill, saying it’s up to the states.