WASHINGTON _ Sen. Roy Blunt Thursday blocked an effort by Senate Democrats to remove Confederate statues from the U.S. Capitol.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., attempted to pass by unanimous consent a bill to remove from the U.S. Capitol 11 statues that commemorate Confederate officials and Vice President John C. Calhoun of South Carolina (1825-1832), a champion of slavery.
Booker noted the statues were added to the Capitol during the Jim Crow era of racial segregation, when the lynching of Blacks was common.
