[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 1]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 263]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



STEP FORWARD AGAIN TO PROTECT OLD GLORY: COSPONSOR THE FLAG PROTECTION 
                               AMENDMENT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN E. SWEENEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, January 6, 1999

  Mr. SWEENEY. Mr. Speaker, on the opening day of the 106th Congress, I 
respectfully request that all of my colleagues contact Congressman Duke 
Cunningham's office to cosponsor the Flag Protection Amendment.
  For more than 100 years, Americans have crafted laws to protect the 
American flag from physical desecration--until 1989, when on a 5-4 vote 
the Supreme Court denied them that right to protect the eternal symbol 
of freedom and democracy.
  Across our country, our citizens have voiced loud and clear that 
Congress must enact the constitutional amendment that restores that 
right to protect the flag. 82% of Americans support it, 49 states have 
passed resolutions calling for it, 310 House Members responded in the 
105th Congress to pass it, and 61 Senators cosponsored the Senate bill 
that came just a few votes shy of restoring the power to protect the 
flag that has been denied for the past nine years.
  The 106th Congress must follow through and make the Flag Protection 
Amendment a reality.

                          ____________________