[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 10568-10569]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND RELIGION UNDER ATTACK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Poe) for 5 minutes.

[[Page 10569]]


  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, freedom of speech, the free exercise 
of religion, two of our most important, fundamental principles that 
this Nation was founded upon, have recently become under attack by none 
other than this Federal Government. The authoritarian behavior and 
attack on the First Amendment rights is an attack now on the veterans 
that have served our Nation.
  Last week, while in Houston, Texas, I met with members of the 
Veterans of Foreign Wars. They shared with me very descriptive and 
disturbing stories about the aggressive and hostile censorship of 
religion and speech that is occurring at none other than the veterans 
cemetery in Houston, the second largest cemetery for our veterans in 
the United States, next to Arlington, which is right down the street 
across from the Potomac River.
  The director of the Houston National Cemetery, Arleen Ocasio, is 
accused of attacking the constitutional rights of our military who have 
fought and died for this country. The very rights that they fought and 
died for are being under attack by none other than this director. The 
thought that someone would have the audacity to censor religion and 
speech anywhere is despicable, but censoring the funeral services of 
the veterans who spent their lives protecting the First Amendment is 
malicious and it's not forgivable.
  Director Ocasio is an unelected bureaucrat, a nonveteran who is 
clearly out of touch with our veterans and the Constitution. And it's 
unbelievable that she would be put in charge of the sacred burial 
ground in Houston, Texas.
  Here's what the accusations against her are, according to the 
Veterans of Foreign Wars who I met with. And these are the men who go 
to those funeral services and are the honor guard for America's war 
dead that are buried. And here's what they say that she has done. The 
chapel that is on the premises has been closed. The Bible has been 
removed. The cross has been taken out of the chapel. We don't know what 
the chapel's being used for. Some say a storage place. Some say a 
meeting place. Some say it's not being used at all. This is what she is 
accused of doing.
  She censors the prayers that are being given at the burial services 
of our veterans. She's banned the word ``God,'' the words ``Jesus 
Christ'' from these funeral services. And it is the very utterance of 
the word ``God'' that's put this director in a tizzy, so much so that 
she wants to approve all the prayers that are given at these private 
veterans funerals that take place on these sacred grounds.
  There are 60 burials a week of our veterans at Houston National 
Cemetery. And this action has got to cease, this unconstitutional 
action by the director. It's not the business of the Federal Government 
to be engaged in anti-religious activity, especially at what some 
consider to be a religious ceremony, the burial of our veterans. The 
philosophy behind such politics is anti-Christian, anti-religious, and 
anti-American.
  Mr. Speaker, the First Amendment is first because it's the most 
important. It protects the freedom of speech, the freedom of press, the 
freedom of free exercise of religion, and the freedom to peaceably 
assemble. And that is under attack at this cemetery because the 
director wants to be in charge and make sure that none of these burials 
are a religious ceremony. And that's got to stop.
  This cemetery, Mr. Speaker, does not belong to Director Ocasio. In 
fact, I don't think it belongs to the Federal Government. It belongs to 
the veterans who have served this Nation all over the world in all 
wars. It belongs to them, and it belongs to their families who bury 
them. And religious censorship has got to cease at this cemetery. 
Americans are irate about this government attack on religion. I have 
heard from numerous veterans and loved ones all over the country who 
are shocked that this government, our government, would allow such a 
thing to occur.

                              {time}  1010

  One man in particular stood out who called my office and he was in 
tears, Mr. Speaker, because his father, a World War II veteran, was 
days away from being buried in Houston National Cemetery. And his 
father had heard about the censorship of religion and speech, and he 
doesn't want to be buried in that cemetery with other veterans any 
longer.
  So no wonder that so many people are shocked by the actions of this 
director. After all, it reminds me of the old Soviet Union, the way 
they used to censor speech and prevent the free exercise of religion.
  The First Amendment is sacred. Funerals are sacred; and when our 
veterans are buried, that soil becomes sacred. And this action has to 
stop, and if these actions are true, the director needs to be 
terminated.
  The government's attack on the very freedoms that these people have 
lived and died for is a violation of the freedom of speech and the 
freedom to freely exercise religion promised to all Americans in the 
Constitution, and that must be upheld.
  And that's just the way it is.

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