WASHINGTON — The late Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, the longest-serving member of the current Congress, will lie in state in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall on Tuesday.
Young, 88, died March 18 while traveling home to Alaska. A cause of death was not provided by his office.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., are expected to participate in a formal memorial service to honor him.
President Joe Biden is also expected to visit the Capitol on Tuesday afternoon to pay tribute to Young as he lies in state. Biden's service in the Senate, from 1973 to 2009, overlapped with Young's in the House, which he had served in since 1973.
Biden said in a statement following Young's death, "There is no doubt that few legislators have left a greater mark on their state. Don’s legacy lives on in the infrastructure projects he delighted in steering across Alaska. In the opportunities he advanced for his constituents. In the enhanced protections for Native tribes he championed. His legacy will continue in the America he loved."
Young was the longest-serving Republican in congressional history.
“For five decades, he was an institution in the hallowed halls of Congress: a serious legislator always bringing people together to do the People’s work," Pelosi said after his death. "The photographs of him with ten presidents of both parties who signed his bills into law that proudly cover the walls of his Rayburn office are a testament to his longevity and his legislative mastery.”
