[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 200 (Thursday, December 7, 2017)]
[House]
[Page H9712]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          MONTHLY MOMENT OF SILENCE HONORING MILITARY MEMBERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Jones) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, in 2008, I introduced a resolution amending 
House rules, which would require that we open the first session day of 
every month with a moment of silence in honor of the military members 
who had been killed in war. Speaker Nancy Pelosi got word of my 
resolution and her office informed me that amending the rules would not 
be necessary.
  Speaker Pelosi decided that she, and only she, would open the 
legislative month with that moment of remembrance. She kept her word 
and, monthly, met her commitment to our fallen American heroes.
  Yesterday, I introduced the same legislation, H. Res. 643, and I 
called on the Speaker of the House to initiate this policy of honoring 
the military members we have lost fighting for this country.
  Since Mr. Ryan became Speaker of the House in 2015, at least 165 
brave American men and women have been killed in service. We in 
Congress have not sufficiently recognized or remembered those who have 
died for America.
  It is my belief that since Speaker Ryan is in the line of succession 
to become President of the United States and Commander in Chief, it is 
his constitutional responsibility, and solely his responsibility, to 
show gratitude to those who have died for this country. I wrote to 
Speaker Ryan on December 5 asking that he begin this tradition in 
January of 2018.
  In closing, I hope all of my colleagues will join me in support of H. 
Res. 643. America is at war. American military members are fighting and 
dying for this country. It is only through remembrance and prayer that 
the United States House of Representatives can truly show the bereaved 
families of those we lost that we share in their sadness.
  Mr. Speaker, when I come to the floor to talk about death and war, I 
try to show the pain in the faces of those who have lost loved ones. 
The least we can do in this House is, once a month, have a moment of 
prayer in remembrance of those who have died for this country.

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