Rep. Don Young to lie in state at the Capitol next week

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced Monday that late Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), who was the longest-serving member of the House until his death on Friday, will lie in state in the Capitol next week.

Young will lie in state in National Statuary Hall on Tuesday, March 29.

There will be a formal ceremony to honor Young that morning, following a viewing for members of Congress, according to an advisory from Pelosi’s office.

After his death on Friday, Pelosi praised Young as “an institution in the hallowed halls of Congress” and “a serious legislator always bringing people together to do the people’s work.”

Young had served in the House since 1973, with stints as chairman of the House Transportation and Natural Resources committees.

Young’s office announced Friday that the 88-year-old lawmaker “passed away today while traveling home to Alaska to be with the state and people that he loved.”

Only 18 other House members have been granted the rare honor of lying in state in the Capitol, either in National Statuary Hall or the Capitol Rotunda.

The last House member to receive the honor was the late Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the former House Oversight and Reform Committee chairman, in October 2019.

Distinguished former government and military officials are granted the honor of lying in state.

The distinction of lying in honor, meanwhile, goes to civilians. Only six people in U.S. history have lain in honor in the Capitol Rotunda, most recently the deceased Capitol Police Officer William Evans after he was killed in a car attack last year.