[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 15284-15287]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            ENCOURAGING DISPLAY OF THE FLAG ON FATHER'S DAY

  Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 2356) to amend title 4, United States Code, to encourage the 
display of the flag of the United States on Father's Day.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 2356

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. ADDITIONAL OCCASSION FOR DISPLAY OF THE FLAG OF 
                   THE UNITED STATES.

       Section 6(d) of title 4, United States Code, is amended by 
     inserting after ``Flag Day, June 14;'' the following: 
     ``Father's Day, third Sunday in June;''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
Wisconsin (Ms. Baldwin) and the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. King) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Wisconsin.


                             General Leave

  Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on H.R. 2356 
and include extraneous materials in the Record.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Wisconsin?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  As part of our Nation's bicentennial celebration in 1976, Congress 
passed a joint resolution re-emphasizing existing rules and customs 
pertaining to the display and use of the flag, especially recommending 
its display on a number of different holidays, including Mother's Day, 
the second Sunday in May.
  Omitted from the list was Father's Day. H.R. 2356 would amend the 
Federal flag code to include Father's Day, the third Sunday in June, 
among important holidays on which to fly the American flag.
  The law now provides that, in addition to the important occasions 
listed in the flag code, ``the flag should be displayed on all days.'' 
I know that this is the custom in every community in the United States.
  Still, I think that it is important for the flag code to recognize 
both mothers and fathers, who raise the next generation, inculcate them 
with the values they need to be good citizens and good neighbors.
  I want to thank our colleague, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Scott) 
for his efforts to enact this worthwhile legislation.
  And I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation to 
honor fathers in the flag code, just as we now honor mothers.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. KING of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  I rise in support of this legislation which would add Father's Day, 
the third Sunday in June, to the list of holidays listed in the U.S. 
flag code on which it's particularly appropriate to fly the American 
flag.
  It's altogether appropriate that Father's Day be added to the list of 
holidays on which the flag should be flown. Both fathers and mothers 
are essential elements to the basic family unit that has made America 
so strong. And so the flag should be flown proudly on both Father's 
Day, as provided by this bill, and on Mother's Day, as already provided 
in existing law, as a sign of respect for both mothers and fathers and 
the essential role the traditional family plays in raising new citizens 
in our democracy.
  I would add, I want to also thank Congressman Todd Tiahrt for 
bringing this initiative to Congress. It's interesting to note that 
there was a class in his district that when they were studying the 
history and studying the days that the Federal Government encourages 
display of the flag, they noticed that Father's Day was missing. They 
had written a letter to Congressman Tiahrt asking that he take action 
on this, and he has introduced a bill and it complements this bill 
before us.
  So I thank him for that and I wanted to emphasize how important it is 
for citizens to weigh in and to reach out and communicate with Members 
of Congress because here's a perfect example of how young people saw a 
gap, had their voice heard, and we have an opportunity here now to fill 
that gap.
  The first Father's Day celebration occurred in Fairmont, West 
Virginia, in 1908, and the first Mother's Day celebration occurred just 
15 miles away in Grafton, West Virginia. So that neighborhood is the 
home now of Father's Day and Mother's Day. But it's a historical 
anomaly that Mother's Day and Father's Day were instituted so close in 
time, but it has taken until today for the House to pass a bill to add 
Father's Day to the day on which it's especially appropriate to fly the 
flag.
  President Calvin Coolidge recommended Father's Day as a national 
holiday in 1924; and in 1966, President Johnson made Father's Day a 
holiday

[[Page 15285]]

to be celebrated on the third Sunday of June. The holiday was 
officially recognized in 1972, during the Presidency of Richard Nixon. 
I look forward to President Bush signing this legislation into law and 
encouraging all Americans to fly the flag of their own fatherhood 
celebrations, which will happen at my house.
  And as a father, I'm particularly pleased to be here on the eve of 
the next Father's Day, helping support this piece of legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. Speaker, I now yield such time as he may consume to 
the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Scott), the sponsor of this 
legislation.

                              {time}  1430

  Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, thank you to Ms. Baldwin, the 
distinguished lady from Wisconsin for her generosity, and thanks to Mr. 
King and those on the other side of the aisle who are joining in this 
effort.
  Mr. Speaker, without question, this is an extraordinary day, it is an 
extraordinary bill, is an extraordinary occasion. This is America, the 
greatest country in the world, and our flag represents greatness. To 
have now, finally, fruition, the manifestation of those precious words 
that were captured in the book of Exodus in the holy scriptures, where 
God said, the greatest and the first commandment in relationship of man 
to man were these words, ``Honor thy father,'' and then He said, ``and 
thy mother that thy days will be long in the land.''
  Finally, today, on this day, June 11, in the year 2007, nearly 4,000 
years since those words were written down and inscribed, we are finally 
recognizing fathers as well as mothers by making sure the flag flies 
not just on Mother's Day but on Father's Day as well.
  In the Hebrew language, the word for ``father'' is ``abba,'' and in 
the Greek language it is ``pater,'' and together those words mean the 
begatter, the progenitor, the source. But it also means provider and 
protector. It is no wonder why God in His wisdom said: ``Honor thy 
father'' and He put father first, and our mother, and now we are 
rectifying that situation.
  I am very delighted to be here. This is an important bill, at an 
important time, because never before have we needed to stress the role 
of father, to be a good father.
  It is a gaping hole in the fabric of America that fathers are not 
being fathers. Throughout so many aspects of our society, the American 
flag is one of the greatest symbols of our country. It is the 
representation of our freedoms, our values, our heritage as a Nation.
  As Americans, our flag code instructs us to fly the flag every day, 
but especially on a number of very special significant Federal, 
religious, and cultural holidays. For many years, this list of 
occasions has included Veterans Day, President's day, Columbus Day and 
Mother's Day.
  In the past several years, the list was amended to include the 
Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.'s observation of his birthday as a 
national holiday, in honor of his outstanding contributions that he 
made in his lifetime to the advancement of the civil rights of all 
Americans.
  But our flag code currently does not reflect the important roles of 
both men and women in the raising of children, and never before have we 
needed to emphasize that. It is time that this body officially 
recognizes the importance of American fathers by passing this important 
legislation today.
  I am pleased that the House is considering H.R. 2356, for fathers 
play an extraordinary role in the development of children. 
Psychologists have emphasized that the presence of a father 
significantly influences a child's development in many ways. Infants 
not only distinguish between their father and strangers' voices within 
the first 4 weeks of life, but infants also recognize that a father is 
likely to engage in play time with them.
  That first impression, to hear that strong comforting voice of a 
father, to balance that with the mother, is so critical in the 
development of our children. In later years, the relationship between a 
father and his children strongly influences success in the classroom, 
improves relationships with peers, and decreases the likelihood of 
negative behavior.
  Is there any wonder that today in so many reaches and depths in our 
neighborhoods that there is negative behavior, and that is so much 
associated because there is not a father being a father in the home and 
in the life of that child.
  The presence of a father is also a very important determinant in the 
child's socioeconomic potential later in life. Unfortunately, over the 
last four decades, research shows that there has been an unprecedented 
rise in this Nation in the number of fatherless homes, especially when 
they are first born, no father.
  The National Fatherhood Initiative emphasizes that children from 
families with fathers are five times less likely to be poor. What is 
the answer to poverty? Getting the fathers who produce these children 
to be fathers, to take care of these children and be responsible for 
these children.
  It is important for Congress to emphasize the significance of fathers 
and their socioeconomic value of the two-parent family as well, for 
studies also show that children are more likely to engage in 
recreational activities when their fathers are present. When fathers 
are involved in organized sports such as soccer, baseball and 
basketball, they are not only encouraging physical activity in their 
children, but also character development and sportsmanship.
  Fathers also benefit for participating in their children's teams, as 
physical activity contributes to increased wellness and disease 
prevention in men. Fathers who are active in child rearing may also 
find themselves more nurturing toward their colleagues in the 
workplace, improving other aspects of their lives, by taking younger 
coworkers under their wing or volunteering more time to charitable 
organizations as well.
  Schools across this country are developing innovative programs to 
reach out to parents and to especially get fathers involved in various 
and positive activities. In Kansas City, Missouri, the Reconnecting 
Education and DADS organization developed a specific reading program 
for fathers to use with their children.
  The Kindering Center of Belleview, Washington, created a weekly 
support group for fathers of children with special needs. All over the 
country, schools are facilitating courses in responsible fatherhood, 
including education on child development, managing stress and good 
nutrition for their children and themselves.
  I want to take just a minute here to acknowledge the important work 
of a similar organization in my own congressional district in Georgia. 
These men, these fathers are making a difference in the lives of our 
children by volunteering their time to improve the learning 
environment, not only for the children, but the many others who are 
within the school as well. They call it the DADS organization, DADS, 
whose acronym stands for Diverse and Dedicated Support, and it is a 
collective effort by fathers in my congressional district to serve as 
role models, not the athlete, not the rap guy, not the singer, not the 
superstars. The great role models for our young people need to be their 
fathers. By doing this today, this Congress is making this bold and 
much-needed statement.
  This program places fathers of students in Clayton County, Georgia, 
middle schools to serve as hallway and classroom monitors to help with 
the discipline problems in our schools. Who better to do that, helping 
faculty to maintain order as students transition between classes 
throughout the day. This is where the violence sometimes starts. But 
with a parent there, particularly a father, a strong male presence, 
these men also serve as tutors when students need the help the most, 
including Clayton County students to pursue their education and their 
dreams.
  One self-employed volunteer at Lovejoy Middle School works while 
students are in class, and takes breaks throughout the day to monitor 
hallways and classrooms. That's a father.

[[Page 15286]]

  Another volunteer, a wounded veteran from the war in Iraq, not only 
sacrificing his life in Iraq, where he was wounded, but he comes back 
home in Clayton County, Georgia, and walks the halls of Adamson Middle 
School with a cane. What a sight. These are heroes. No greater role 
model could we find than this wounded veteran who was wounded in Iraq, 
but comes back to help shape the lives of our young people in school.
  He came so that he may assist the faculty in ensuring good discipline 
among the students. I am so honored, I am so full, I am overflowing up 
here today to know these fathers are making the ultimate difference in 
our communities and in my district. These men are not just fathers to 
individual students. They are dads to the children who lack the 
involvement of a father in their lives. The expansion of this program 
to elementary and high school underscores the success to reach out and 
encourage the involvement of fathers both inside the school and out.
  In closing, I want to also note that many children from single-parent 
families are doing well. They are succeeding. But just think what it 
would be if they had both parents there, if they had been raised to be 
upstanding and successful members of our community. By passing this 
legislation today, we will show our support for the important roles 
that fathers, as well as mothers, play in preparing future generations 
in this country.
  Honor thy father and thy mother so that thy days will be long in the 
land. We are doing that in Congress today, with extraordinary 
important, meaningful, and significant legislation.
  Mr. KING of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I might 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, listening to Mr. Scott talk about the importance of 
fathers and mothers in the family and the home and the children, I 
can't any longer resist reflecting through the generation and what this 
means to me as we discuss this bill that will encourage the special 
attention to flying the flag on Father's Day.
  All of us, each of us has a father. We don't always get to know that 
father, but I certainly got to know mine. There is hardly a day that 
goes by that I don't think of him.
  I know that there is never a day that goes by that his influence on 
me doesn't show up in me in something that I do. I look at the 
grandfathers that I have known. I had the privilege of knowing one of 
my grandfathers. I watched the message that came from them, the work 
ethic and the history, and to sit on his knee and to listen to him tell 
me about his father and his grandfather and the relation of the 
families and about how far it goes back and rooted into the settlers 
that came across the country, the pioneers.
  My grandfather on my mother's side was sent at a young age, about 13 
years old, to go from Indiana to Iowa, to go work on a farm that had 
only daughters and no sons. What little bit of pay that he got, even at 
that young age, he had to send back to Indiana. Then when he needed a 
pair of shoes, he had to write a letter and ask, can I have some money, 
I need a pair of shoes.
  Well, he was a smart young man, and he married the farmer's daughter, 
and another generation began. That farmer's daughter and that fellow, 
of course, that young man, were the parents to my mother.
  But on my father's side, my father taught me some things that I think 
have been invaluable in my life. He was the one that always challenged 
me. Every evening we sat down, all our life was about like the book 
``Fun with Dick and Jane.'' Every evening we sat down at the supper 
table, and Dad carried the conversation. It was either about his day at 
work, or it was about current events, and then sometimes and oftentimes 
it was the same thing, given his job. He was the one that taught me to 
be intellectually honest.
  First, you listened before you spoke, and you looked for an 
opportunity, and the amount of seniority you had in the family and 
credibility gave you a little bit more opportunity to speak. But if you 
spoke, and you could not support the statement that you made, he would 
be there to challenge you on what do you support that statement with. 
Why can you make a statement like that when these are the 
countervailing facts?
  So, from a young age, one of the most important things my father 
taught me was to be intellectually honest and expect to be challenged 
if you are not intellectually honest.
  On one of those occasions we began a discussion of whether you can 
convert watts to horsepower. We had a debate going on, an argument 
going on, that lasted for 3 days. Every night at supper, I would start 
that debate up again.
  Then I went to the school library and went through a book and finally 
found the equation that showed how to do the math between watts and 
horsepower. I snuck that book down to the supper table, marked it, set 
it on my knees throughout supper. Then when we finished eating and the 
conversation began, we went into that discussion again.
  When I got him just to the right point in the conversation that I 
could win the debate, I pulled out the book, opened it up to the 
formula and said here, so many watts equals horsepower. I thought I had 
the argument won. But I had not been apparently intellectually honest 
enough, because he said, that's not what I am talking about. Horsepower 
is mechanical power, watts is electrical power, and you can't equate 
the two. I learned a real important lesson there as well, but time 
after time, day after day, the important values of hard work and ethics 
and integrity and telling the truth and knowing that when I looked him 
in the eye he knew what was in my mind and he knew what was in my soul.
  Even when I watch my hands work today, they are the hands of my 
father doing that work. When I come here to work here in this Congress, 
I know that I just don't represent the 600,000 people in my district, 
which is a profound thing and a tremendous honor to be able to do that, 
but all of us are the legacy of our fathers and mothers, the work ethic 
that they taught us, the values that they taught us. We are what has 
come through that crucible. We are the representatives of the 
generations.

                              {time}  1445

  And to be those representatives, we can thank two people in our lives 
more than any others, and that's our fathers and our mothers. And I 
think that came through Mr. Scott's discussion here very well, and I 
appreciate that that's in the record and we had the opportunity to hear 
that. I wanted to add some of those words from my side of this as well.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. Speaker, I would also like to join the gentleman 
from Iowa in giving special recognition to our colleague, Mr. Tiahrt of 
Kansas, who has also worked on this issue and is sponsoring similar 
legislation. This really is a remarkable bipartisan effort.
  Mr. Speaker, this is simple, yet sensible legislation to accord equal 
honor to fathers as to mothers in the statutory guidance on flying our 
Nation's flag on special days of the year. I urge my colleagues to 
support it.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 
2356, which amends title 4 of the United States Code to encourage the 
display of the flag of the United States on Father's Day. 
Unfortunately, our flag code does not include Father's Day in the list 
of important occasions. H.R. 2356 rectifies this oversight by including 
Father's Day, among the important holidays on which Americans are 
encouraged to fly the American flag.
  Father's Day in USA is celebrated with great enthusiasm and lot of 
fanfare on third Sunday of June. In observing this day, people reflect 
on the invaluable role played by fathers in building the character of 
children and in the development of the Nation. On Father's Day we honor 
our fathers and express gratitude for their love and affection.
  It is a wonderful idea to raise the American flag on Father's Day, 
and allow it to symbolize the hard work and dedication of our fathers. 
The benefits of a father's influence are well documented. School 
achievements in children may be negatively effected in the absence of a 
good father-child relationship. Father influence can affect the choice 
of occupations,

[[Page 15287]]

preferred school subjects, and role development of their children. 
Clearly, the father can greatly impact the lives of his children.
  For all of these reasons, we should honor American fathers by 
amending the flag code to include Father's Day on the list of important 
observances.
  Mr. TIAHRT. Mr. Speaker, today I was very pleased to help honor 
America's fathers by voting for H.R. 2356. This bill amends title 4 of 
the U.S. Code that governs how and when it is appropriate to fly the 
flag of the United States. I recently introduced similar legislation in 
this Congress, and I am pleased to work with other Members of Congress 
on both sides of the aisle to move this idea forward.
  Prior to 1923, flag etiquette was not established in U.S. law. 
Handling of the flag was done in accordance with traditions that traced 
back to service procedures in the Army and Navy. These procedures were 
codified during the National Flag Conference in 1923. Congress 
solidified these procedures in a joint resolution in 1942.
  Contained within this code is a list of holidays on which it is 
especially appropriate to fly the flag. Independence Day, Memorial Day 
and Veterans' Day are among the holidays listed. Mother's Day is 
rightfully on the list of recognized holidays. Unfortunately, Father's 
Day is not.
  This idea was actually suggested to me by Mr. Joe Beffer's 8th grade 
civics class at Roosevelt Middle School in Coffeyville, Kansas. The 
students had a six week assignment to replicate the legislative 
process, complete with elected Representatives, Senators, and a 
President.
  One young man noticed that our flag code did not recognize Father's 
Day as a holiday on which it is especially encouraged to fly our 
Nation's flag. He offered a bill to add Father's Day to the honored 
holidays and it passed their replica Congress. I was honored when the 
class passed their idea to me. I am pleased to be a part of this 
Congress' efforts to help honor the contributions America's fathers 
continue to make to our strong Nation.
  Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentlewoman from Wisconsin (Ms. Baldwin) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 2356.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this question will 
be postponed.

                          ____________________