House committee backs bill on statues

A House committee has approved a bill that would put statues of two District luminaries in the Capitol, but only after squabbling over voting rights and whether the city should be equated with a state or a U.S. territory, the D.C. Wire reports.

The House Administration Committee voted Wednesday along party lines for a measure that calls for placing statues of abolitionist Frederick Douglass and architect Pierre L'Enfant in Statuary Hall, just as the 50 states have two statues apiece in the halls of the Capitol. The Douglass and L'Enfant statues are completed and have been sitting at One Judiciary Square awaiting permission to move into the legislative branch.

The bill's prospect in the Senate remain unclear.

Check out reporter Mike DeBonis' coverage of the issue.