I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2586 

To prohibit the Secretary of Veterans Affairs from authorizing honor guards 

to participate in funerals of veterans interred in national cemeteries 

unless the honor guards may offer veterans’ families the option of having 

the honor guard perform a 13-fold flag recitation, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 21, 2009 

Mr. BROUN of Georgia (for himself, Mr. PETERSON, Mr. WALZ, Mr. CANTOR, 

Mr. BLUNT, Mr. BOREN, Mr. CARTER, Mr. CARNEY, Mr. PRICE of Georgia, Mr. MEEK of Florida, Mr. GINGREY of Georgia, Mr. DAVIS of Tennessee, Mr. AKIN, Ms. FALLIN, Mr. KLINE of Minnesota, Mr. POE of 

Texas, Mr. BRADY of Texas, Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey, Mr. ISSA, Mr. 

KING of Iowa, Mr. LUETKEMEYER, Mr. POSEY, Mrs. LUMMIS, Mr. 

FORBES, Mr. OLSON, Mr. MCHENRY, Mr. GOHMERT, Mr. WILSON of 

South Carolina, Mr. WESTMORELAND, Mr. JORDAN of Ohio, Mr. DEAL

of Georgia, Mr. WITTMAN, Mr. YOUNG of Alaska, Mr. KINGSTON, Mr. 

MILLER of Florida, Mr. MARCHANT, Mr. HELLER, Mr. ROSKAM, Mr. 

LINDER, Mr. MCCOTTER, Mr. TIBERI, Mr. NUNES, Mr. HUNTER, Mr. 

SHADEGG, and Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To prohibit the Secretary of Veterans Affairs from authorizing honor guards to participate in funerals of veterans 

interred in national cemeteries unless the honor guards 

may offer veterans’ families the option of having the 

honor guard perform a 13-fold flag recitation, and for 

other purposes. 


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•HR 2586 IH

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 

4 Congress makes the following findings: 

5 (1) The National Cemetery Administration of 

6 the Department of Veterans Affairs (hereinafter re7 ferred to as the ‘‘NCA’’) honors veterans with final 

8 resting places in national shrines and with lasting 

9 tributes that commemorate their service to the Na10 tion. 

11 (2) The NCA currently maintains more than 

12 2,800,000 grave sites at 125 national cemeteries in 

13 39 States and Puerto Rico. 

14 (3) In fiscal year 2006, nearly 97,000 inter15 ments were conducted at national cemeteries. 

16 (4) In fiscal year 2006, nearly 72 percent of in17 terments were at the Nation’s 20 busiest national 

18 cemeteries in Riverside, California, Florida, Calver19 ton, New York, Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, Fort 

20 Snelling, Minnesota, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, 

21 Fort Logan, Colorado, Willamette, Oregon, Dallas22 Fort Worth, Texas, National Memorial Cemetery of 

23 Arizona, Houston, Texas, Fort Rosecrans, Cali24 fornia, Abraham Lincoln, Illinois, Tahoma, Wash25 ington, Massachusetts, San Joaquin Valley, CaliVerDate Nov 24 2008 19:21 May 24, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2586.IH H2586

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•HR 2586 IH

1 fornia, Long Island, New York, Indiantown Gap, 

2 Pennsylvania, Ohio Western Reserve, and Great 

3 Lakes, Michigan. 

4 (5) Section 1491 of title 10, United States 

5 Code, requires, upon a family’s request, that every 

6 eligible veteran receive a military funeral honors 

7 ceremony, to include folding and presenting the 

8 United States burial flag and the playing of Taps, 

9 and the law further stipulates that veterans’ organi10 zations may assist in providing military funeral hon11 ors. 

12 (6) The folding and presentation of the United 

13 States flag is a solemn and important moment for 

14 families of the deceased, and can be done in silence 

15 or accompanied by a recitation of the 13 steps taken 

16 to fold the flag and the meaning behind each step. 

17 (7) Veterans’ service organizations across the 

18 Nation often provide funeral honors at national 

19 cemeteries, including the folding and presentation of 

20 the flag, the recitation of the flag-folding steps and 

21 the playing of Taps. 

22 (8) The recitation of the flag-folding steps 

23 should be proactively offered to the families rather 

24 than waiting for a request. 


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•HR 2586 IH

1 (9) The choice to have the flag-folding cere2 mony read aloud should rest with the family of the 

3 deceased, not the NCA. 

4 SEC. 2. OFFERING OF 13-FOLD FLAG RECITATION AT FU5 NERALS OF VETERANS IN NATIONAL CEME6 TERIES. 

7 The Secretary of Veterans Affairs may not authorize 

8 an honor guard to participate in the funeral of any veteran 

9 interred in a national cemetery under the control of the 

10 National Cemetery Administration unless the honor guard 

11 may offer to the family of each veteran in whose funeral 

12 the honor guard chooses to participate the option of hav13 ing the honor guard perform one of the 13-fold flag recita14 tions. 

15 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

16 It is the sense of Congress that 13-fold flag recita17 tions are a historical tradition, and that it should be the 

18 policy of the Department of Veterans Affairs to authorize 

19 honor guards to participate in the funerals of veterans and 

20 proactively offer such a recitation to the family of each 

21 veteran. 

Æ 


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