Former Vice President Dick Cheney will be on Capitol Hill Thursday morning, where he’ll be confronting his legacy in more ways than just the marble bust of him being unveiled.
A who’s who of Republicans will gather to honor Cheney, including remarks from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Paul Ryan and former President George W. Bush, in whose administration Cheney served.
Cheney’s bust will be unveiled in the Capitol Visitor Center’s Emancipation Hall as part of a tradition dating back to the 1800’s that allows for busts of former vice presidents to be placed in the Capitol. Vice presidents are also the president of the Senate and serve as a tie-breaking vote.
But if the bust unveiling seems ripe for nostalgia, it may end up being a case of déjà vu.
Cheney’s return to Capitol Hill comes as Congress and the White House are grappling with how to fight the rise of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, including whether to send in combat troops in the wake of the terror attacks on Paris. As lawmakers rush to find a deal to keep government funded past December 11, some Republicans are pushing for any omnibus package to include action on Syrian refugees and keeping terrorists from entering the country.
It’s a familiar topic for Cheney, who helped Bush lead the nation into the war on terror after September 11, 2001, and into the Iraq War. Some critics say that war helped destabilize the region and open the door to ISIS’ rise.
The Bush administration’s policies are also being re-examined in the 2016 presidential race, in which Bush’s brother, Jeb Bush, is a GOP candidate. The former Florida governor repeatedly dealt awkwardly with his brother’s decision to enter the Iraq War, flubbing answers about whether he would have made the same decision.
Meanwhile, GOP front-runner Donald Trump has loudly proclaimed throughout the campaign that he was against the Iraq War going back to its early months, and has directly criticized George W. Bush for the September 11 attacks happening during his presidency.
Cheney also faced criticism from the Bush patriarch, George H.W. Bush, in a biography of the former president released last month — specifically for being too hawkish after September 11. Cheney served as secretary of defense in the Bush 41 administration, following a decade in the House, representing Wyoming.
Cheney’s daughter, Liz, is considering running for that same congressional seat next year.