Congress

New York poised to place Harriet Tubman in US Capitol

Published

2 months ago

March 21, 2025

ALBANY, New York — Gov. Kathy Hochul’s lifelong obsession with Harriet Tubman is propelling an effort to place a statue of the 19th century abolitionist in the U.S. Capitol.

The push to put Tubman’s marble likeness in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall is also being backed by both the state Senate and Assembly, which support the governor’s plan to swap out a statue of founding father Robert Livingston.

There are 100 statues in Statuary Hall — two for each state. The planned switch to Tubman would be the first change in one of New York’s spots since the likenesses of Livingston and George Clinton were shipped to Washington in the 1870s.

Hochul has been as big a booster of Tubman as anybody. Last year, she told a group of elementary school students about her childhood fascination with the Union Army spy.

“When I was in third grade, I had this one favorite book. It was called ‘The Story of Harriet Tubman,’” Hochul said. “It was a book I used to check out of the library all the time. I didn’t own it. I checked it out so much, the librarian one day said, ‘Why don’t you just keep it?’ And what I’d do is, late at night, my parents said, ‘Turn the lights out,’ it was dark in my room, I crept out of bed and I’d go grab that book. And I read it over and over and over because I could not get over how courageous she was.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul poses by a statue of Harriet Tubman in Auburn, New York.

Seventeen statutes have been removed from Statuary Hall since 2003, most of whom were Confederates or their sympathizers. Democrats in the House have twice passed a bill in recent years to ban such statues. And while this has yet to win approval from the Senate, other efforts to remove sculptures that have faced criticism have been successful — including North Carolina’s Republican-backed push to replace segregationist Charles Brantley Aycock with Billy Graham last year.

Hochul has made at least four official visits to Tubman’s historic home in Auburn since she became lieutenant governor a decade ago. She renamed one of the boats the state uses on the Erie Canal after Tubman in 2022. And she announced in 2023 that the state would spend $400,000 to add a Tubman statute to Binghamton — which is set to be unveiled this Friday.

Livingston spent 24 years as New York’s first chancellor — a post that made him the top judge in the state, but which also had some powers currently held by the governor. His tenure overlapped with a stint as the first American to hold the job that evolved into secretary of state. He later served as Thomas Jefferson’s ambassador to France and negotiated the Louisiana Purchase.

But his historical standing has been marred by the fact that he owned more than a dozen slaves.

A replica of the Robert Livingston statue is seen in the New York State Capitol.

Livingston was never a consensus choice for a statue. As the Legislature began debating the honorees in 1872, steamboat inventor Robert Fulton seemed like the early frontrunner to join Clinton.

Hochul’s proposal, which was buried in her budget and has since been included in both chamber’s one-house budget bills, would create a five-member commission tasked with selecting a Tubman statute. The governor would then be tasked with working with the Architect of the Capitol to finalize plans.

“One of the architects of the Underground Railroad, one of the folks who has redefined who we are as a human,” said Sen. Jamaal Bailey — who’s sponsoring a bill to make Harriet Tubman Day a state holiday — about why the abolitionist is deserving of the historical honor.

“From a human perspective, not just a Black perspective — and I think it’s great, as a Black person in New York state, for her to have this recognition — I think it’s very important for us to do,” Bailey said.

While Livingston might be removed from Washington, his likeness will live on. Two exact replicas were made when his statue was finalized in 1875. One of them still stands prominently at the western end of the state Senate’s lobby in New York’s Capitol building.

Congress

Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden is fired by Trump

Published

5 hours ago

May 9, 2025

Blue Light Newsroom

President Donald Trump fired Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden Thursday, according to a library spokesperson and an email obtained by Blue Light News.

“Carla, On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as the Librarian of Congress is terminated effective immediately. Thank you for your service,” wrote Deputy Director of Presidential Personnel Trent Morse in an email to Hayden sent at 6:56 p.m.

Hayden’s firing generated an immediate backlash from congressional Democrats. Rep. Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.), the top Democrat on the House committee that oversees the library, slammed Trump for “firing a patriotic public servant.” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries piled on, calling the decision “unjust” and a “disgrace.” Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) praised Hayden in a statement and said Trump was “taking his assault on America’s libraries to a new level.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hayden became the first Black Librarian of Congress and the first woman to lead the world’s largest library after the Senate confirmed her in a 74-18 vote in 2016. Her 10-year term began that year, though she may have been eligible for renewal under rules set by Congress.

Hayden was nominated by President Barack Obama, who knew Hayden from her time at the Chicago Public Library. Immediately before being tapped as Librarian of Congress, she led the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore.

She has been a prominent public face of the Library of Congress, active on social media and expanding offerings of events at the library. She launched a strategic plan for the library and was shepherding a complete overhaul of the visitor experience, including significant structural changes to create a new way for visitors to view the iconic reading room.

Hayden faced criticism from House Republicans at a House Administration hearing Tuesday about cost increases and delays to that project.

Gregory Svirnovskiy contributed to this report

Congress

Ways and Means chair to huddle with Trump on taxes

Published

10 hours ago

May 8, 2025

Blue Light Newsroom

House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith is set to meet Friday with President Donald Trump at the White House with the tax portion of the GOP megabill at risk of unraveling, according to three people granted anonymity to describe the private plans.

Smith will have to inform Trump that the tax portion of the megabill has been limited by the GOP’s inability to build support for deep spending cuts and that Republicans will have to leave out some of his priorities, according to three other people with direct knowledge of the matter.

The White House meeting will come a day after Speaker Mike Johnson privately told Republicans Thursday that they would only be able to pay for $4 trillion in tax cuts, versus the $4.5 trillion they had previously been targeting to enact the president’s sprawling tax demands.

Smith explained Trump’s latest asks for the tax bill to Ways and Means Republicans in a Thursday morning meeting. They include closing the so-called carried interest loophole and hiking taxes on the wealthiest Americans, according to two other people.

Congress

Senate Democrats demand hearing on Trump deportations

Published

11 hours ago

May 8, 2025

Blue Light Newsroom

Senate Democrats are asking Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chair Rand Paul to convene a hearing on President Donald Trump’s deportation policies, including claims that administration officials are defying court orders in their haste to expel foreigners from the U.S.

In a letter obtained by POLITICO, all the panel’s Democrats called on Paul to “immediately” hold a hearing on Trump’s approach to a series of high-profile deportation fights, including the transfer of more than 200 foreigners to a notorious high-security prison in El Salvador in March. Judges have found two of the deportations to be illegal or improper, while another judge is mulling contempt proceedings after concluding the administration might have defied his orders.

“The Administration demonstrates its intention to upend our nation’s bedrock principles of checks and balances by placing the Executive Branch above the law and outside the reach of judicial orders,” said the letter, signed by the committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, and colleagues. “The Administration has declined to present evidence of their claims in court, they have denied individuals their right to have a hearing to contest the government’s claims, and they have refused to follow the rulings of multiple courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.”

The Democrats said Trump’s policies threaten to impact U.S. citizens as well, since he has publicly said he’d like to send American criminals to foreign prisons.

In the letter sent Wednesday, Peters and colleagues asked Paul to summon three Cabinet members — Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem — as well as FBI Director Kash Patel.

The letter warns that Republicans could “embolden” Trump by failing to conduct oversight of his administration’s action, but it also makes reference to Paul’s independent streak, praising him as “a steadfast advocate for Congress’ role as a co-equal branch of government.”

A spokesperson for Paul did not immediately respond to a request for comment.