Mr. Speaker, today we are enduring the Republican rite of spring: A proposed amendment to the Bill of Rights to restrict what it calls flag desecration. Why spring? Because Members need to send out a press release extolling the need to protect the flag, as if the flag somehow needed Congress to protect it. It is easier than answering questions about the failure of this House to provide proper health care to our veterans, proper armor to save the lives of our troops, or proper support for their survivors.

Mr. Speaker, I have heard a number of speakers invoke the rescuers and heroes and first responders at Ground Zero on September 11 and the few weeks after.

Mr. Speaker, that is my district. I was there in the days after 9/11. I have seen the heroism and the self-sacrifice of the first responders. I have watched their betrayal by the Government of the United States, by the Federal and State and local governments which are not providing for their health care, which are not providing workers' comp when they cannot do their jobs because of World Trade Center health syndrome, which denies that they were present in the workers' comp proceedings after they get medals for rescuing people. That is the betrayal we should talk about. What they care about is being made whole, is having their health care taken care of and their lives restored, not this.

The flag is a symbol of our great Nation and the fundamental freedoms that have made this Nation great. If the flag needs protection at all, it needs protection from Members of Congress who value the symbol more than they value the freedoms the flag represents. Quite frankly, the crass political use of the flag to question the patriotism of those who value fundamental freedoms is a greater insult to those who died in the service of our Nation than is the burning of the flag.

I am certain we will hear speeches invoking the sacrifice of our troops in the field as a pretext for carving up the first amendment. We already have. That is a shameful exploitation of the patriotism and courage of these fine and courageous young people. It is the civic equivalent of violating the commandment against taking the Lord's name in vain.

If Members want to honor the sacrifice of our troops, protect the rights they fight for. Protect our civil liberties, and protect the rights of veterans. Playing games with the Constitution does not honor them.

People have rights in this country that supersede public opinion, even strongly held public opinion. That is why we have a Bill of Rights to protect minorities from the majority. If we do not preserve those rights, then the flag will have been desecrated far beyond the capability of any idiot with a cigarette lighter.

Let there be no doubt that this amendment is aimed directly at ideas. Current Federal laws say that the preferred way to dispose of a tattered flag is to burn it, but there are those who would criminalize the same act of burning the flag if it was done to express political dissent.

Mr. Speaker, the fact of the matter is I have seen motion pictures, I have seen movies reflecting the War of 1812 in which the British burned our capital. I saw in those movies, actors playing British soldiers burning the flag. Did we send in the police to arrest the actors for this flag desecration? Of course not. We do not mind that because we know they do not mean it. That is to say, they are not burning the flag as an expression of disdain for our values, as an expression of their opinions on political issues of their disagreement with the administration or with the government in power. No, they are doing it as part of a play, play-acting; so the physical act does not mean anything, so we do not care.

But under this amendment, if someone were to do the same thing, burn the flag at the same time as he says, I disagree with the policy of whatever it is, that would be a criminal act. So what is really being made criminal? Not the act of burning the flag. What is really being made criminal is the act of burning the flag combined with the expression of a dissident, unpopular political opinion.

The act of burning the flag to dispose of it is a praiseworthy act. The act of burning the flag as part of a movie or part of a play, that is okay. I do not think anybody contemplates arresting the actors. Really, what we are getting at here is the core expression of first amendment protected ideas. We will arrest people who as part of expressing their opinion about something burn the flag. But if they burn the flag without expressing an opinion contrary to the government as part of a play or for some other reason, that will be okay. That should tell us what this amendment is about. That is why the Supreme Court said that the law was unconstitutional, because it does violate the first amendment.

The distinguished ranking member is quite correct. If we carve out this exception for the first amendment, if we make this the first time that we will limit rights protected by the Bill of Rights, it will be easier to do it in the future. Then the next amendment will come along and say that, well, if you say things that we think, that somebody at the moment thinks endangers American troops, you say the war, whatever war it is at the moment, is wrong, our President shouldn't have done it, whoever the President may be at that moment, our troops shouldn't be in wherever they are, that is endangering our troops, we will make that illegal. That will be easier to do. That is why this amendment is so dangerous.

How many Members of Congress, used car dealers, fast-food restaurants, and other seemingly legitimate individuals and enterprises have engaged in the act of using the flag or parts of the flag for advertising, an act which our unconstitutional law defines as flag desecration? This amendment would presumably make that law constitutional once more. If ratified, I think there are more than a few people who will have to redesign their campaign materials to stay out of jail, except, of course, that probably no one will arrest them for that violation of the law because they will not be seen to be using it for dissident political speech, unless they are running on an unpopular platform, then maybe they will be. Again, that is the danger of this amendment.

As if this assault on the Bill of Rights is not enough, the Judiciary Committee once again did not even bother holding a hearing on this very significant constitutional amendment. The Subcommittee on the Constitution did not bother to consider it, to debate it, or to vote on it. Now, I know that they will say, We've held hearings in previous Congresses. Yeah, and we have rejected this amendment in previous Congresses. And this is a new Congress. There are new Members. There is no excuse for doing something or attempting to do something so significant to start tearing up the Bill of Rights without even a hearing to hear opinions on it just because prior Congresses may have held hearings.

This cavalier attitude toward the Bill of Rights is offensive and revealing. Why discuss it? Why look into it? It's only the Constitution. We're only talking about the rights of a few malcontents for whom even opponents of this amendment have contempt.

And we do have contempt for people who would burn the flag. None of us think that those people are doing something praiseworthy. We all think it is absurd and wrong, but we think their right to be wrong has to be protected. That is what America is all about. By the way, where is this epidemic of flag burning? I do not recall seeing anybody burning the flag in I do not know how many years. What is the danger we are legislating against? People have died for this great Nation and the rights which this flag so proudly represent. We are a shining beacon to the world because we allow dissent, even when that dissent is offensive or despicable. Let us not cease to be a shining beacon on the hill. Let us not diminish our liberty. Let us not destroy the way of life for which our troops have made the ultimate sacrifice.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.