Date: 2005-06-22
Speaker: ZOE LOFGREN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. too often this debate has been categorized about who loves the flag. And it has caused me to think back about the great affection I feel for our flag. The fondest memory I think I have of being a mother is standing on the school. yard of the elementary school with my children and joining with them and the other mothers as they saluted our flag. I remember crying. looking at our flag the first time I went to a Democratic convention and we sang the National Anthem and our flag was there. It was overwhelming. that the flag was there for our democracy. And when we enter this Capitol and see the flag flying above it. it is an overwhelming experience to see that flag. We love it so much. And why? Because our Nations flag stands for the freedoms that define this country. One of those freedoms is freedom of speech. Our country is strong and free because Americans are free to express their opinions even when we do not agree with those opinions. If enacted. this bill would for the first time in our Nations history modify the Bill of Rights to limit freedom of speech. As has been stated. it is clear that this amendment would only limit speech that some do not agree with. Why are the Republican leadership of the House pushing this amendment? I think it is obvious that it would amend the first amendment. I think the majority party cannot really tolerate dissent. I would like to read something that General Colin Powell said about this amendment when we had hearings several years ago. General Powell: "The first amendment exists to ensure that freedom of speech and expression applies not just to that with which we agree or disagree but also to that which we find outrageous. I would not amend that great shield of democracy to hammer a few miscreants. The flag will be flying proudly long after they have slunk away." Jim Warner. a Vietnam veteran and prisoner of the North Vietnamese from 1967 to 1973. wrote this about the proposed amendment. and I quote this prisoner of war. this American hero: "The fact is the principles for which we fought. for which our .comrades died. are advancing everywhere upon the earth while the principles against which we fought are everywhere discredited and rejected. The flag burners have lost. and their defeat is the most fitting and thorough rebuke of their principles which the human could devise. Why do we need to do more? An act intended merely as an insult is not worthy of our fallen comrades. It is the sort of thing our enemies did to us. but we are not them. and we must conform to a different standard . . . Now. when the justice of our principles is everywhere vindicated. the cause of human liberty demands that this amendment be rejected. Rejecting this amendment would not mean that we agree with those who burned our flag or even that they have been forgiven. It would. instead. tell the world that freedom of expression means freedom even for those expressions we find repugnant." . I think there is another reason why this amendment has been offered.. and that is to divert attention from the shabby treatment of our veterans. Let us shift attention to our beloved flag. maybe the vets will not notice that Congress has not kept our promises to them. According to the American Legion. 30.000 veterans are waiting 6 months or longer for an appointment at a veterans hospital. The Veterans of Foreign Wars estimates that as many as 220.000 men and women veterans could lose their benefits under the proposed veterans budget. Our veterans went to war to protect our Nation and to guarantee our freedoms. including freedom of speech and to ensure that .those freedoms would be protected. Now we are about to undercut their sacrifice by amending the first amendment for the very first time. And to add injury to insult. we are also failing to provide the care our veterans earned with their blood and their sweat. and we are denying them what they deserve from a grateful Nation. Some in the past have voted for this amendment assuming that the Senate will stop it. that we really will not do this bad thing to our country. I have great fear that the political landscape has changed. I think this is a sad and shameful day fot our Nation.