Joe Biden voted to give Robert E. Lee his US citizenship

Joe Biden voted to give Robert E. Lee his US citizenship

by Julio Rosas

| April 29, 2019 12:42 PM

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Joe Biden, who recently blasted President Trump for backing supporters of Robert E. Lee, voted to restore the Confederate general's citizenship early in his Senate career. Biden in 1975 joined a unanimous Senate in the citizenship restoration for Lee, 110 years after the Virginian surrendered his Army of the Potomac to the Union general and future President Ulysses S. Grant. Lee's legacy recently became a fraught political issue when the former vice-president, a leading 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, slammed Trump over his remarks after the violent August 2017 rally in Charlottesville, Va.

The 1975 vote came in response to a discovery in the National Archives that Lee's post-Civil War citizenship request had never reached President Andrew Johnson. When Lee first wrote to Johnson, Grant noted Lee did not include the oath of allegiance to the U.S., which was necessary for a pardon and his citizenship. Later in the fall, Lee included the oath, which read: "I, Robert E. Lee, of Lexington, Virginia, do solemnly swear, in the presence of Almighty God, that I will henceforth faithfully support, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and the union of the states thereunder, and that I will, in like manner, abide by and falthfully support all laws and proclamations which have been made during the existing rebellion with reference to the emancipation of slaves, so help me. God." Lee died in 1870 without getting his citizenship.

In July 1975, Biden was two-and-a-half years into his Senate career, which would last for 36 years, before an additional eight as vice president under President Barack Obama. While all senators backed the Robert E. Lee citizen resolution, ten House members opposed it, compared to 407 in favor.

Debate about Lee's legacy has festered since the summer 2017 Charlottesville episode. Trump told reporters on Friday Lee was a "great general" as he defended his response to the "Unite the Right" rally, which left activist Heather Heyer dead after one rally attendee drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters. "If you look at what I said, you will see that question was answered perfectly. And I was talking about people that went because they felt very strongly about the monument to Robert E. Lee, a great general," said Trump. "Whether you like it or not he was one of the great generals. I've spoken to many generals right here at the White House, and many people thought of the generals they think he was maybe their favorite general. People were there protesting the taking down of the monument of Robert E. Lee. Everybody knows that."

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/joe-biden-voted-to-give-robert-e-lee-his-us-citizenship

Democrats to seek 'substantial revenue' in infrastructure deal with Trump

Democratic leaders told President Trump Monday they will seek “substantial, new and real revenue” in a bipartisan infrastructure deal with the GOP that they said must address climate change and add union jobs. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., outlined their demands in a letter to Trump Monday, a day ahead of a key infrastructure meeting between the president and the two lawmakers. “America’s unmet infrastructure needs are massive, and a bipartisan infrastructure package must meet those needs with substantial, new and real revenue,” Pelosi and Schumer wrote to Trump. “We look forward to hearing your ideas on how to pay for this package to ensure that it is big and bold enough to meet our country’s needs.”

Pelosi signaled earlier this month that Democrats' plan to try to work with Trump on an infrastructure package. Trump campaigned on rebuilding crumbling roads and bridges, but his initial proposal provided meager federal funding up front. Democrats want massive federal funding to be used more broadly to repair infrastructure, public schools, housing, and to expand internet services in addition to other projects. “We must also invest in resiliency and risk mitigation of our current infrastructure to deal with climate change,” Pelosi and Schumer wrote. The two lawmakers also outline the terms for who will benefit from job creation. “This bill can and should be a major jobs and ownership boost for the American people — manufacturers, labor contractors, and women, veteran and minority-owned businesses,” they wrote.

Senate Democrats proposed a $1 trillion infrastructure proposal last year that they said would create 15 million jobs. The plan did not include a revenue source, however. Trump included a $1 trillion infrastructure pitch in his fiscal 2020 budget proposal. It largely mirrored his 2017 plan, which would spend $200 million while leveraging the rest from private companies, state and local governments.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/congress/democrats-to-seek-substantial-revenue-in-infrastructure-deal-with-trump