King was the lone dissenting vote Tuesday when the U.S. House passed the measure, which also calls for the placement of a marker paying tribute slaves. The Kiron Republican said his decision was based on the bill being used as a bargaining chip to allow the depiction of “In God We Trust” in the Capitol Visitor’s Center. Kiernan said it was actually an example of King being out of touch with Iowa values.

Here is the statement Kiernan released Thursday morning:

“Iowans have a rich history of embracing diversity and of leading the nation in support of civil rights for African Americans. Years before the Civil War, Iowa Courts determined there would be no place for slavery in our state. Nearly a century before ‘Separate But Equal’ was deemed unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court, we in Iowa desegregated our schools, opening opportunities for children and families without regard to race. And in the years since, our elected officials and courts have protected these rights, which we hold so dear. This is a tradition we can be proud of.

But Congressman Steve King has flown in the face of our history of inclusion, and of progress. This vote is an embarrassment to his constituents, and to Iowa. Congressman King has once again showed that he is out of touch with Iowa values, and he must be held accountable for this vote. Iowans deserve better.”

King released a statement to the Washington, D.C.,-based news site Politico describing the reason he was the lone dissenting vote in the U.S. House on the measure, which also called for the placement of a marker paying tribute slaves who worked to build the Capitol. He said a deal was struck that called for votes in support of honoring slaves in order to get votes on a resolution directing the Architect of the Capitol to engrave the Pledge of Allegiance and “In God We Trust” in conspicuous places in the three-story underground visitor center.

This is just the latest example of a several year effort by liberals in Congress to scrub references to America’s Christian heritage from our nation’s Capitol. Liberals want to amend our country’s history to eradicate the role of Christianity in America and chisel references to God or faith from our historical buildings.

Our Judeo-Christian heritage is an essential foundation stone of our great nation and should not be held hostage to yet another effort to place guilt on future Americans for the sins of some of their ancestors. Christian abolitionists gave their lives by the hundreds of thousands to end slavery. Great American leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. worshiped God just as our Founding Fathers did. We must never forget this important aspect of our heritage or use it as a political bargaining chip.

In an interview with Radio Iowa’s O.Kay Henderson, King expanded on on his statement.

So why was King the only no vote?

“I think it’s simply many of them thought, ‘I don’t want to die on that hill.  It’s not worth fighting over,’” King replied.  “…It was a deal and I mean, I sat there and looked at that (voting) board for quite a while last night and I thought this through and I knew I was going to be the only one and I thought: ‘I just can’t.  I just cannot simply go along with this and let them do what they’re doing to our history.’ This doesn’t have anything to do with slavery to speak of, really.  It has to do with them trying to amend our history, after the fact, and at some point somebody had to draw the line and no one else had the will to do it when the issue was slavery.”

This isn’t King’s first controversial vote regarding slavery. In August, King called a bill apologizing for slavery “White Americans wallowing in guilt.”

From the Associated Press:

“This physical and permanent marker will pay tribute to the blood, sweat and tears of the African-American slaves who helped build this magnificent building and ensure that their story is told and never, never, ever forgotten,” said Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga. The vote was 399-1, with Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, the lone dissenter. The Senate is considering a similar measure. …

… Historians have discovered that slaves worked 12-hour days, six days a week on the construction of the Capitol. The federal government rented the slaves from local slave owners at a rate of $5 per person per month. The slaves were not paid.

In addition to working on the building, slaves worked in quarries where they extracted the stone for the Capitol. Other slaves provided carpentry skills, still others for sawing stone and timber.

Slave women and children were used to mold clay in kilns.

Why King decided to stand in opposition to the bill is unknown, as he has released no public statement regarding the legislation and his spokesman, Matt Lahr, has not responded to a request for comment.