I 111th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 2586 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.

1.

Findings

Congress makes the following findings: (1)The National Cemetery Administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs (hereinafter referred to as the NCA) honors veterans with final resting places in national shrines and with lasting tributes that commemorate their service to the Nation. (2)The NCA currently maintains more than 2,800,000 grave sites at 125 national cemeteries in 39 States and Puerto Rico. (3)In fiscal year 2006, nearly 97,000 interments were conducted at national cemeteries. (4)In fiscal year 2006, nearly 72 percent of interments were at the Nation's 20 busiest national cemeteries in Riverside, California, Florida, Calverton, New York, Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, Fort Snelling, Minnesota, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, Fort Logan, Colorado, Willamette, Oregon, Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona, Houston, Texas, Fort Rosecrans, California, Abraham Lincoln, Illinois, Tahoma, Washington, Massachusetts, San Joaquin Valley, California, Long Island, New York, Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania, Ohio Western Reserve, and Great Lakes, Michigan. (5)Section 1491 of title 10, United States Code, requires, upon a family’s request, that every eligible veteran receive a military funeral honors ceremony, to include folding and presenting the United States burial flag and the playing of Taps, and the law further stipulates that veterans’ organizations may assist in providing military funeral honors. (6)The folding and presentation of the United States flag is a solemn and important moment for families of the deceased, and can be done in silence or accompanied by a recitation of the 13 steps taken to fold the flag and the meaning behind each step. (7)Veterans’ service organizations across the Nation often provide funeral honors at national cemeteries, including the folding and presentation of the flag, the recitation of the flag-folding steps and the playing of Taps. (8)The recitation of the flag-folding steps should be proactively offered to the families rather than waiting for a request. (9)The choice to have the flag-folding ceremony read aloud should rest with the family of the deceased, not the NCA.

2.

Offering of 13-fold flag recitation at funerals of veterans in national cemeteries

The Secretary of Veterans Affairs may not authorize an honor guard to participate in the funeral of any veteran interred in a national cemetery under the control of the National Cemetery Administration unless the honor guard may offer to the family of each veteran in whose funeral the honor guard chooses to participate the option of having the honor guard perform one of the 13-fold flag recitations.

3.

Sense of Congress

It is the sense of Congress that 13-fold flag recitations are a historical tradition, and that it should be the policy of the Department of Veterans Affairs to authorize honor guards to participate in the funerals of veterans and proactively offer such a recitation to the family of each veteran.