Congress
New York poised to place Harriet Tubman in US Capitol
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.”
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.
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.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is in the Capitol meeting with holdout GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Bill Cassidy of Louisiania as he tries to lock down their support for his confirmation as permanent leader of the Justice Department.
Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) declined to respond directly Wednesday to Speaker Mike Johnson’s refusal to denounce his former son-in-law Rep. Max Miller over abuse accusations leveled by Moreno’s daughter: “These aren’t accusations in my world,” he said.
“In my world, this is the reality,” Moreno told reporters at the Capitol. “This is not something that is theoretical to me. This is my lived reality of my daughter and my family every single solitary day.”
In an interview with Dasha Burns for Blue Light News’s The Conversation, Johnson declined to take sides in the dispute between Miller (R-Ohio) and Emily Moreno. He called for a House Ethics probe to “play out.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s expected choice for Army chief of staff faces resistance that could imperil his confirmation, according to the chair of the panel that needs to approve it.
Senate Armed Services head Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said Wednesday that he was aware of “some opposition within the committee” to acting Army chief of staff Gen. Christopher LaNeve taking the job on a permanent basis.
LaNeve, previously Hegseth’s senior military aide, was confirmed as Army vice chief of staff in January. But he has also served as acting chief of staff since April when Hegseth forced out popular Gen. Randy George, a move that drew widespread criticism from lawmakers in both parties.
Wicker said he was “not able to predict right now” if lawmakers could address concerns about LaNeve. He did not specify whether the concerns were raised by Republicans, but GOP resistance is likely given that nominees could advance through the committee on a party-line vote.
LaNeve has only held the position of four-star general for six months, an anomaly for the the senior most Army officer.
The Wall Street Journal first reported about Republican opposition to LaNeve, citing Sen. Joni Ernst’s (R-Iowa) concerns about his lack of experience at the four-star rank.
Ernst, in an interview, did not dispute that she was the source of the holdup. But she called it a moot point as President Donald Trump has not yet formally nominated LaNeve to the position. And she disputed reports that LaNeve’s lack of experience was the sticking point.
“I don’t think that time and grade has anything to do with leadership ability, so I don’t know how that came about, honestly.” she said. “That’s not what I’ve told anyone.”
If the opposition continues, Trump could decide to leave LeNeve in the acting position indefinitely.
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