House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has called for the removal of Confederate statues from the U.S. Capitol as the contentious debate over the appropriateness of such memorials moved to the halls of Congress.

But House Speaker Paul Ryan has couched the memorials as a states' rights issue, and Donald Trump has lamented the removal of what he calls “beautiful” memorials and tributes to the Civil War Confederacy.

“You can’t change history, but you can learn from it,” Trump tweeted. “Robert E. Lee. Stonewall Jackson — who’s next, Washington, Jefferson? So foolish. ...

“Also the beauty that is being taken out of our cities, towns and parks will be greatly missed and never able to be comparably replaced!”

The president’s support for monuments to symbols of slavery has generated deadly physical clashes between white supremacists who'v been newly emboldened by him and anti-racist activists.

The president's affection for monuments celebrating America's racist past also has provided fodder for humorists. 

"If we’re going to start taking down every monument that pays tribute to racists, we should probably take down every building with the name ‘Trump' on it," quipped late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel. 

‘Highest ideals’

Pelosi asked Ryan to join Democrats in supporting legislation to remove the Confederate statues. The legislation can’t pass without support from Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress.

Pelosi said the statues in the Capitol should “embody our highest ideals as Americans, expressing who we are and who we aspire to be as a nation.”

Pelosi’s challenge came after violence during a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, stoked calls to remove Confederate statues everywhere. About 10 statues in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall are of men who served as Confederate soldiers or politicians.

“The Confederate statues in the halls of Congress have always been reprehensible,” Pelosi said in a statement issued late last week. “If Republicans are serious about rejecting white supremacy, I call upon Speaker Ryan to join Democrats to remove the Confederate statues from the Capitol immediately.”

Ryan spokesman Doug Andres responded by defending the right of each state to place two statues of its choosing in the Capitol’s National Statuary Hall.

Opponents of racism, however, contend that honoring relics that represent one of the nation's two greatest shames, is inappropriate and disturbing. Many have asked what's the difference between Confederate tributes on government property to celebratory depictions of Hitler and swastikas on German government property, which is rigorously forbidden. 

‘Much work to do’

The statues in Statuary Hall are required to be of someone deceased for at least 10 years and must be made of marble or bronze. An exception was made for the statue of Rosa Parks, which was moved to its current location in 2013, as well as for any replacement statues, according to a Congressional Research Service report.

Among the statues present are of Gen. Robert E. Lee, Virginia; Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States of America, Mississippi; and Alexander Hamilton Stephens, the Confederate vice president, Georgia.

Sen. Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, announced earlier that he would be sponsoring legislation to remove Confederate statues from the Capitol building.

“This is just one step,” Booker said. “We have much work to do.”