[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 11159-11160]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

      By Mr. WEBB (for himself and Mr. Conrad):
  S. 3372. A bill to amend section 704 of title 18, United States Code; 
to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. WEBB. Mr. President, I am introducing this bill today in response 
to a recent Supreme Court holding that invalidated the provisions of 
what has become known as the Stolen Valor Act of 2006. The Supreme 
Court decision regarded a place in the Stolen Valor Act that made all 
false statements about the receipt of military decorations a crime. It 
states that this act, in the view of the Court:

       . . . seeks to control and suppress all false statements on 
     this one subject in almost limitless times and settings 
     without regard to whether the lie was made for the purpose of 
     material gain.

  Basically what the Supreme Court was saying is that we cannot freeze 
all first amendment rights to make claims about anything in this 
society unless there was a purpose at the end of it in terms of some 
sort of a material gain.
  I understand and fully accept the Court's holding in this case about 
the overly broad measures of the Stolen Valor Act of 2006. The 
legislation I am introducing today is designed to remedy this issue and 
to bring criminal penalties to those who falsely claim military service 
or the receipt of unearned awards, medals, and ribbons if these 
statements were made in pursuit of a tangible benefit or a personal 
gain.
  This legislation is drafted under the guidance of the holding of the 
Supreme Court in this case. I am a strong believer in the first 
amendment. I believe it is sacrosanct in our society. I believe the 
freedom to speak one's mind and to dissent when one opposes a proposal 
or an issue or a government policy is the very foundation of a truly 
free society.
  At the same time, the very special reverence with the first amendment 
should be measured against the equally special place our society holds 
for military service. There are strongly emotional reasons that this is 
so and there are clearly other tangible benefits that derive from 
military service.
  I would point out something that for many of us seems obvious, but I 
think it needs to be restated as we consider the Supreme Court decision 
on the Stolen Valor Act and what the implications are for the 
legislation I am introducing. The experience of military service, 
particularly hard combat, is a unique phenomenon in our society. There 
was a saying when I was in the Marine Corps many years ago that ``For 
those who have fought for it, freedom has a flavor that the protected 
shall never know.'' Once someone has been in hard combat, they will 
never see life around them in the same way again. That doesn't mean 
they will be worse or particularly better or damaged or in some way 
empowered, but for the rest of their lives they will truly see a lot of 
things differently. They will have seen horrible events that strain 
their emotions, yet increase their ability to understand tragedy and to 
value human courage in many different stripes and forms. They will have 
learned to appreciate the inherent contradictions between the pristine 
intellectual debates about war and the reality of a blood-soaked 
battlefield where decisions must be made in an instant while human 
lives hang precariously in the balance.
  These lives comprise the burden and the value of military service. 
Neither the scars nor the lessons disappear

[[Page 11160]]

when one leaves the battlefield or when one leaves the military. The 
men and women who step forward to serve carry this burden and share 
these values for the rest of their lives. Our veterans have given a 
portion of themselves to our country, and our country has always been 
good at reciprocating. Our veterans love America and America loves our 
veterans.
  It is important to understand the impact that military service can 
have on one's life in order to comprehend what a disservice it is for 
others to pretend to have served. There is an old country song that 
says ``You've got to suffer if you want to sing the blues.'' Those who 
have not served, have not paid the price that comes with earning that 
respect. In many cases they are indeed attempting to gain tangible 
benefits that have been designed to reward and honor military service 
when they pretend to have served.
  Here are a few of those benefits that are in the legislation I am 
outlining: benefits relating to the military service provided by the 
Federal Government or a State or local government; the ability to gain 
employment or professional advancement; financial remuneration, for 
instance, receiving money for books or writings related to the notion 
of having served; seeking an effect on the outcome of criminal or civil 
court proceedings; and seeking to impact one's personal credibility in 
a political campaign. There are others, but those are clearly tangible 
benefits that come from stating that one served in the military when 
one did not.
  The journey of this Stolen Valor legislation begins with one 
individual whom I have known for a very long time. His name is Jug 
Burkett. He was a Vietnam veteran, like myself. He grew up in the 
military. His father had a career in the military. He identified this 
problem many years ago and looked at the impact of those who had 
claimed to have served or who had claimed to have served in areas where 
they did not on all the areas I just mentioned.
  He wrote a book many years ago called ``Stolen Valor.'' He had quite 
a journey with this book and has pursued the issue of honesty and 
integrity in our legal process and in other ways. It was largely 
because of Jug Burkett's effort that the Stolen Valor Act was passed in 
2006.
  I do not believe the Supreme Court decision in any way invalidates 
the concerns Jug Burkett and others have had. In fact, I think what we 
are doing with this legislation is to make sure proper concerns are 
laid out without being overly broad so that any words said in a bar 
room or someone sitting around personally is not going to have legal 
authorities measuring every single word anyone says.
  We have designed this very specifically with respect to the concerns 
the Supreme Court laid out. I may be offering this bill as an amendment 
to the National Defense Authorization Act. My hope is this amended 
language could gain the support of all of our colleagues and that we 
could move this bill quickly, perhaps as an independent bill.
  This bill respects the first amendment. It respects military service, 
and it assures a special place in our society that has always been 
reserved for those who have stepped forward and gone into harm's way on 
our behalf.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Mrs. BOXER:
  S. 3375. A bill to designate the Berryessa Snow Mountain National 
Conservation Area in the State of California, and for other purposes; 
to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I am pleased to introduce the Berryessa 
Snow Mountain National Conservation Area Act. Congressman Mike Thompson 
recently introduced companion legislation to this bill in the House of 
Representatives, and I thank him for all of the work he has done on 
advancing this initiative.
  This important legislation designates 319,000 acres of public lands 
in Lake, Mendocino, Napa, and Yolo Counties as the Berryessa Snow 
Mountain National Conservation Area, or NCA. The area is a haven for 
hiking, camping, rafting, and horseback riding, and is home to a 
diverse array of wildlife including black bears and bald eagles.
  My bill does not add any new lands to the Federal Government--the 
lands included in this NCA are already managed by the Bureau of Land 
Management, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the U.S. Forest Service. A 
National Conservation Area designation will require these three 
agencies to develop a multi-agency management plan in consultation with 
stakeholders and the public, improving coordination on wildlife 
preservation, habitat restoration, and recreational opportunities. 
Creation of the NCA will also help the agencies take a more coordinated 
approach to preventing and fighting wildfires, combating invasive 
species and water pollution, and stopping the spread of illegal 
marijuana growth.
  By unifying these individual places under one banner, my bill helps 
put the Berryessa Snow Mountain region on the map as a destination for 
new visitors. This region is one of the most biologically diverse, yet 
least known regions of California. By raising its profile, an NCA 
designation will boost tourism and increase business opportunities in 
the region's gateway communities. The Outdoor Industry Association has 
estimated that outdoor recreation supports 408,000 jobs and contributes 
$46 billion annually to California's economy, underscoring the immense 
potential of sites such as the proposed Berryessa Snow Mountain NCA to 
drive local economic growth. Additionally, the region will become 
recognized by more people as uniform signage and publications are 
created to reach more diverse audiences, allowing them to learn more 
about this beautiful area.
  Finally, this designation enables more people to share in the 
management of these wonderful resources through the creation of a 
public advisory committee. Local citizens, outdoor enthusiasts, 
business owners, and other stakeholders will be granted an official 
avenue to provide input on how to best care for these beautiful rivers, 
ridges, forests, canyons, and creeks, along with their diverse plant 
and wildlife species.
  Creation of this proposed National Conservation Area has strong 
support from a large coalition of local governments, elected officials, 
business owners, landowners, farmers, private individuals, and many 
conservation and recreation groups. This bill is the culmination of a 
grassroots effort of concerned citizens taking the initiative to care 
for the beautiful areas in their communities, and I am proud to support 
their work and commitment. I particularly applaud Tuleyome, a local 
nonprofit active in protecting wilderness and agriculture in the 
western Sacramento Valley and Inner Coast Range, for their leadership 
on this effort.
  I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass this important 
legislation. The Berryessa Snow Mountain region deserves national 
status and recognition, and I urge my colleagues to join me in 
supporting this effort.

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