[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 115 (Thursday, July 11, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S5123]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 2892. Ms. WARREN (for herself, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Padilla, Ms. 
Smith, and Mr. Merkley) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed 
by her to the bill S. 4638, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 
2025 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military 
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, 
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for 
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

       At the end of subtitle H of title V, add the following:

     SEC. 594. RESCISSION OF MEDALS OF HONOR AWARDED FOR ACTS AT 
                   WOUNDED KNEE CREEK ON DECEMBER 29, 1890.

       (a) Findings.--Congress finds as follows:
       (1) The Medal of Honor is the highest military award of the 
     United States.
       (2) Congress found that to earn the Medal of Honor ``the 
     deed of the person . . . must be so outstanding that it 
     clearly distinguishes his gallantry beyond the call of duty 
     from lesser forms of bravery''.
       (3) The actions of Medal of Honor recipients inspire 
     bravery in those currently serving in the Armed Forces and 
     those who will come to serve in the future.
       (4) Those listed on the Medal of Honor Roll have come to 
     exemplify the best traits of members of the Armed Forces, a 
     long and proud lineage of those who went beyond the call of 
     service to the United States of America.
       (5) To date the Medal of Honor has been awarded only 3,522 
     times, including only 145 times for the Korean War, 126 times 
     in World War I, 23 times during the Global War on Terror, and 
     20 times for the massacre at Wounded Knee.
       (6) The Medal of Honor is awarded in the name of Congress.
       (7) As found in Senate Concurring Resolution 153 of the 
     101st Congress, on December 29, 1890, the 7th Cavalry of the 
     United States engaged a tribal community ``resulting in the 
     tragic death and injury of approximately 350-375 Indian men, 
     women, and children'' led by Lakota Chief Spotted Elk of the 
     Miniconjou band at ``Cankpe' Opi Wakpa'' or ``Wounded Knee 
     Creek''.
       (8) This engagement became known as the ``Wounded Knee 
     Massacre'', and took place between unarmed Native Americans 
     and soldiers, heavily armed with standard issue army rifles 
     as well as four ``Hotchkiss guns'' with five 37 mm barrels 
     capable of firing 43 rounds per minute.
       (9) Nearly two-thirds of the Native Americans killed during 
     the Massacre were unarmed women and children who were 
     participating in a ceremony to restore their traditional 
     homelands prior to the arrival of European settlers.
       (10) Poor tactical emplacement of the soldiers meant that 
     most of the casualties suffered by the United States troops 
     were inflicted by friendly fire.
       (11) On January 1, 1891, Major General Nelson A. Miles, 
     Commander of the Division of Missouri, telegraphed Major 
     General John M. Schofield, Commander-in-Chief of the Army 
     notifying him that ``[I]t is stated that the disposition of 
     four hundred soldiers and four pieces of artillery was 
     fatally defective and large number of soldiers were killed 
     and wounded by the fire from their own ranks and a very large 
     number of women and children were killed in addition to the 
     Indian men''.
       (12) The United States awarded 20 Medals of Honor to 
     soldiers of the U.S. 7th Cavalry following their 
     participation in the Wounded Knee Massacre.
       (13) In 2001, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, a member 
     Tribe of the Great Sioux Nation, upon information provided by 
     Lakota elders and by veterans, passed Tribal Council 
     Resolution No. 132-01, requesting that the Federal Government 
     revoke the Medals of Honor from the soldiers of the United 
     States Army, 7th Cavalry issued following the massacre of 
     unarmed men, women, children, and elderly of the Great Sioux 
     Nation on December 29, 1890, on Tribal Lands near Wounded 
     Knee Creek.
       (14) The National Congress of American Indians requested in 
     a 2007 Resolution that the Congress ``renounce the issuance 
     of said medals, and/or to proclaim that the medals are null 
     and void, given the atrocities committed upon unarmed men, 
     women, children and elderly of the Great Sioux Nation''.
       (15) General Miles contemporaneously stated that a 
     ``[w]holesale massacre occurred and I have never heard of a 
     more brutal, cold-blooded massacre than that at Wounded 
     Knee''.
       (16) Allowing any Medal of Honor, the United States highest 
     and most prestigious military decoration, to recognize a 
     member of the Armed Forces for distinguished service for 
     participating in the massacre of hundreds of unarmed Native 
     Americans is a disservice to the integrity of the United 
     States and its citizens, and impinges on the integrity of the 
     award and those who have earned the Medal since.
       (b) In General.--Each Medal of Honor awarded for acts at 
     Wounded Knee Creek, Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, 
     South Dakota, on December 29, 1890, is rescinded.
       (c) Medal of Honor Roll.--The Secretary concerned shall 
     remove the name of each individual awarded a Medal of Honor 
     for acts described in subsection (a) from the Army, Navy, Air 
     Force, and Coast Guard Medal of Honor Roll maintained under 
     section 1134a of title 10, United States Code.
       (d) Return of Medal Not Required.--No person may be 
     required to return to the Federal Government a Medal of Honor 
     rescinded under subsection (b).
       (e) No Denial of Benefits.--This Act shall not be construed 
     to deny any individual any benefit from the Federal 
     Government.
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