WASHINGTON-AP (WBAP/KLIF) – Congressional leaders have praised the late congressman John Lewis as a moral force for the nation in a Capitol Rotunda memorial service rich with symbolism and punctuated by the booming, recorded voice of the civil rights icon.
In a solemn display of bipartisan unity Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Lewis “the conscience of the Congress,” while Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell praised the longtime Georgia congressman as a model of courage.
Pelosi and McConnell pic.twitter.com/sTINGOds8h
— Barb (@my2cnz) July 27, 2020
Lewis was born to sharecroppers during Jim Crow segregation and was beaten by Alabama state troopers during the civil rights movement. He was awarded the Medal of Freedom by the nation’s first Black president in 2011.
VP Mike Pence and second lady Karen Pence pay their respects to late civil rights icon John Lewis, who is lying in state at the U.S. Capitol. https://t.co/RWkhuQid8X pic.twitter.com/fVYpq2qv3T
— ABC News (@ABC) July 28, 2020
Former Vice President @JoeBiden & @DrBiden pay their respects to the late Congressman & civil rights leader John Lewis. Lewis is lying in state at the U.S. Capital. Vice President @Mike_Pence will be paying his respects. President Trump said that he will not being going. pic.twitter.com/YUKn0RwM3Q
— Marie Coronel (@MarieCoronelSD) July 27, 2020
Among others who paid their respects were former Vice President Joe Biden, Jill biden, Vice President Mike Pence and 2nd Lady Karen Pence.
President Trump, however, said on Monday that he won’t pay his respects to Lewis.
“No I won’t be going, no,” Trump said when asked whether he would travel either later Monday or Tuesday to honor the late congressman and civil rights icon.
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The service came on the same day that Senate Republicans formally unveiled their roughly $1 trillion stimulus proposal, dubbed the ‘Heals Act,’ which includes a $400 cut in enhanced unemployment benefits.
The package includes more forgivable loans to small business and money for schools. Annother direct payments to individuals and families is also included.
