Iowa Rep. Steve King (R-IA) Tuesday levied a new attack on Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) Tuesday, arguing that while the civil rights icon made plenty of contributions during the Civil Rights Movement, “it’s been half a century” yet he still “trades off” his past accomplishments, CNN reports.
Speaking on WHO Iowa radio’s “Mickelson in the Morning,” King backed Donald Trump’s assertion that King is “all talk, talk, talk—no action,” insisting while he certainly appreciates Lewis’ contributions, the civil rights leader “should be doing some other things too.”
"I've served with John Lewis now for quite some time," King said, adding he rarely works with the Democratic representative on legislation.
“I have long contemplated the idea of just going to the floor and saying, 'John Lewis, thank you for your contribution to civil rights during the civil rights era. I would appreciate it if you would contribute something since then. It's been a half a century,’” King added. “And a number of us have watched that and said, 'He trades off of it.' And I guess that's fine. But he should be doing some other things too. And I haven't seen it happen from him.”
King also criticized the Congressional Black Caucus, asking how legislators “can form a caucus that’s established on race.”
"Here's what I want to say to people about, this is the, part of it, it's the voice of the Congressional Black Caucus," King said. "When they formed the Congressional Black Caucus back years ago … I looked at that even then and I thought, 'How can you form a caucus that's established on race?’”
“But they did and they got away with it because people didn't want it challenged,” he added. “And now, the Congressional Black Caucus, I just openly say, they're the self-segregating caucus.”
King went on say Congressional Black Caucus is ”not at all reflective of Martin Luther King’s memory.”
"I mean, the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. … wasn’t about segregation, it was about desegregation," King said. "But now they self-segregate and use the vehicle they created that's the self-segregating caucus in order to advance a leftist political agenda that is not at all reflective of Martin Luther King's memory.”
“He wanted equal opportunity and they don't advocate for equal opportunity, they're advocating for special privileges and immunity from the responsibilities that other citizens have to carry,” King added.
Listen to the audio below, via CNN's KFile: