Bob Dole resides in the state of Capitol Rotunda, where Biden and lawmakers pay homage to the “giant of our history” | Breaking News Updates

The body of former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan., Rests in the state in the Capitol Rotunda on Thursday as the country honors him after his death on Sunday at the age of 98.

President Biden and congressional leaders hailed the native Kansan as an American hero and “the giant of our history.”

Lying as it stands is one of the most solemn American traditions, reserved only for select personalities. Dole becomes only the 33rd person in US history to lie in Rotunda State. Since the turn of the century, only representative John Lewis, D-Ga., The Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., And Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, and Presidents George HW Bush, Ford and Reagan stayed at this location.

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As part of Thursday’s debates, a military honor guard had Dole’s coffin mounted on the 34 steps of the Capitol’s eastern front and in the rotunda, the coffin draped in an American flag.

“America has lost one of its greatest patriots,” Biden said.

Biden urged unity as a way to honor Dole.

“Like many of us here, there were a few things that we didn’t agree with, but none of the fundamental things. We still found a way to work together,” Biden said. “We really respected each other as colleagues, as fellow Americans. It was real. It wasn’t wrong.”

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Minority Leader Mitch McConnell praised his work in pushing through the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“The real driving force behind Bob’s remarkable 98 years was his love. His love for Elizabeth and Robin, for public service, for Kansas and for America,” said McConnell.

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Dole “has redefined and elevated what it means to serve a country” and called him “an incredible American statesman”.

And House Speaker Nancy Pelosi added: “It’s hard to think of anyone who was more worthy to have a flag draped over their coffin because of their great patriotism towards our country.”

The honor guard will watch over Dole’s coffin all night. The coffin rests on the Lincoln Catafalque, a wooden platform that was first used to support the 16th President’s coffin upon his death in 1865.

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The first to be in working order in the rotunda was Speaker of the House Henry Clay in 1852. The most recently honored people in the rotunda were United States Capitol Police officers Brian Sicknick and Billy Evans in February and April of this year. , respectively. The officers had slept in honor, a step lower, slept in honor.

The last person to lie in the Capitol State was Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in September 2020. Service for Ginsburg was not in the rotunda, but in Statuary Hall.