[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16788]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    VFW 1--VETERANS ADMINISTRATION 0

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, during the hot days of last summer, 
the Veterans of Foreign Wars went to battle with the Veterans 
Administration. The VFW claimed the VA was censoring free speech and 
preventing the free exercise of religion at the National Cemetery in 
Houston. The VFW says the chapel at the cemetery was closed. The Bible, 
the cross, the Star of David were removed, and the chapel became a 
storage shed. VFW members also said the director of the cemetery 
censored prayers and prohibited the religious ceremony during burial of 
veterans.
  The VFW sued the VA, and the VA naturally denied the whole thing. 
Recently, a Federal judge approved and agreed to an order requiring the 
chapel to be reopened, the Bible, the cross, the Star of David to be 
returned, and said that the VA must not interfere with free speech or 
the free exercise of religion at burials.
  Madam Speaker, it is ironic that Americans have gone to war, fought 
for the principles of the Constitution; then when they come home, they 
face government hostility and the denial of First Amendment rights to 
the citizens when these veterans are buried in VA cemeteries. Now the 
veterans have won a battle against a government that wanted to deny 
them the American freedoms they fought for in lands far, far away.
  And that's just the way it is.

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