2021: Schweikert Voted Against Removing Confederate Monuments From The U.S. Capitol. In July 2021, Schweikert voted against the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2022 which would, according to Congressional Quarterly, "authorize legislative branch agencies to hire individuals with employment authorization under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program; require the AOC to remove from public spaces in the Capitol all Confederate statues and busts, as well as those representing former Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney, Vice President John C. Calhoun, and others." The vote was on passage. The House passed the bill by a vote of 215-207. [House Vote 239, 7/28/21; Congressional Quarterly, 7/28/21; Congressional Actions, H.R. 4346]
2021: Schweikert Voted To Remove The Bust Of Former Chief Justice Roger Taney From The Old Supreme Court Chamber And All Confederate Monuments From The Capitol, And To Prohibit Confederate Monuments In The U.S. Capitol. In June 2021, Schweikert voted for a bill which would, according to Congressional Quarterly, "direct the Architect of the Capitol to remove from the Old Supreme Court Chamber the bust of former Chief Justice Roger Taney, who wrote the majority opinion in the 1857 case Dred Scott v. Sanford declaring African Americans ineligible for U.S. citizenship, within 45 days of enactment. It would require the AOC to replace the Taney bust with one of former Justice Thurgood Marshall, the first African American Supreme Court justice, within two years of enactment. It would modify existing requirements related to statues in the National Statuary Hall of the U.S. Capitol to prohibit the display of statutes commemorating individuals who voluntarily served the Confederacy or the government of a state in rebellion against the U.S. and require the AOC to identify and remove any such statues from public display within 120 days of enactment. It would also direct the AOC to remove from the Capitol, within 45 days of enactment, any other Confederate statues or busts in public areas, as well as the statues of three individuals who vocally defended slavery or white supremacy -- former Vice President John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, North Carolina Gov. Charles B. Aycock and Arkansas Gov. James P. Clarke. It would authorize such sums as necessary to carry out the bill's provisions." The vote was on passage. The House passed the bill by a vote of 285-120. [House Vote 196, 6/29/21; Congressional Quarterly, 6/29/21; Congressional Actions, H.R. 3005]
2020: Schweikert Voted Against Banning Statues Of Confederate Soldiers At The Capital Building. In July 2020, Schweikert voted against a bill that would, according to Congressional Quarterly, "prohibit the display of statutes commemorating individuals who voluntarily served the Confederacy or the government of a state in rebellion against the U.S. It would authorize, for fiscal 2021, $2 million for the Architect of the Capitol to remove and transport such statues and $3 million for the Smithsonian Institution to store or display the statues. It would also direct the AOC to remove from the Capitol, within 30 days of enactment, the statues of three individuals who vocally defended slavery or white supremacy -- former Vice President John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, North Carolina Gov. Charles B. Aycock, and Arkansas Gov. James P. Clarke. Finally, it would direct the AOC to remove from the Old Supreme Court Chamber the bust of former Chief Justice Roger Taney, who wrote the majority opinion in Dred Scott v. Sanford declaring African Americans ineligible for U.S. citizenship, within 30 days of enactment. It would require the AOC to replace the Taney bust with one of former Justice Thurgood Marshall, the first African American Supreme Court justice, within two years of enactment." The vote was on a motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill. The House agreed to the motion by a vote of 305-113. The Senate never took up the bill. [House Vote 156, 7/22/20; Congressional Quarterly, 7/22/20; Congressional Actions, H.R.7573]
The Bill Came In Response To Nation Wide Calls To Remove Confederate Statues. According to Congressional Quarterly, the bill "is a legislative response to nationwide calls for statues that honor the country's discriminatory past to be relocated from prominent locations [...] Since the My 24 police killing of George Floyd, a Black man, protests across the nation have demanded racial equality when it comes to policing and have advocated for symbols of the country's racist past to be removed from places of public admiration." [Congressional Quarterly, 7/22/20]
Republicans Who Opposed The Bill Claimed It Was A States' Rights Issue. According to the New York Times, "Each state is allowed to send two statues to the Capitol to be featured in the National Statuary Hall collection, which is typically visited by thousands of tourists every day. Federal law gives state leaders, not members of Congress, the authority to replace them. Because Republican lawmakers have long argued that states should retain that right, House Democrats, even though they are in the majority, have been unable to remove the statues.[...] Mitch McConnell [...] is unlikely to allow the bill to receive a vote in the Senate." [New York Times, 7/22/20]