Dec. 31 (UPI) — Former President Jimmy Carter is expected to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol next week after congressional leaders announced their intent to ask the House and Senate to pass a resolution allowing the honor.
A letter to Carter’s son, James Carter III, was signed by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.; House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.; Senate Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; and Senate Leader-elect John Thune.
The leaders expressed their condolences along with their intent to have Carter lie in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda.
The Carter family said in a statement posted online that they have accepted the invitation.
“This will allow an opportunity for the American people to pay their respects to President Carter,” said a statement from the Carter Center on Monday. “This invitation was respectfully and gratefully accepted.”
Carter, the country’s 39th president, will be buried in his family plot at the Carter home, which is part of the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park in Plains, Ga., the National Park Service said.
“President Carter was a great friend of the national parks, not only as president, but as a citizen of Plains,” Jill Stuckey, superintendent of the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park, said in a statement. “I and my staff mourn his passing, but we will always find joy in sharing how President Carter made the world a better place through his activism, empathy and kindness.”
