Approving the location of a memorial to commemorate and honor the members of the Armed Forces who served on active duty in support of Operation Desert Storm or Operation Desert Shield.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 3) approving the location of a memorial to commemorate and honor the members of the Armed Forces who served on active duty in support of Operation Desert Storm or Operation Desert Shield.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on the joint resolution under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, H.J. Res. 3 by Congressman Roe of Tennessee authorizes the National Desert Storm War Memorial Association to consider sites along or near the National Mall for a memorial to honor the members of Armed Forces who served on Active Duty in support of Operation Desert Storm or Operation Desert Shield.

Under the Commemorative Works Act, any memorial proposed to be located on Federal land along or near the National Mall must be approved by Congress after the Secretary of the Interior determines that the proposed work is ``of preeminent historical and lasting significance to the United States.''

The Secretary of the Interior has recommended that the Desert Storm War Memorial Association be authorized to consider sites in Area I for the memorial, and this resolution would provide Congress' approval of the Secretary's recommendation. Congress provided initial authorization for the Desert Storm and Desert Shield Memorial in 2014, and the memorial is to be funded solely by private donations.

History will no doubt continue to debate the political decisions that stopped our forces before they reached Baghdad, but it has already recorded and judged the effectiveness, the heroism, and the devotion of our Armed Forces and their commanders in the field who utterly vanquished the largest army in the Middle East in just 100 hours and who liberated the people of Kuwait from a hideous and sadistic occupation.

This memorial will do more than honor the 382 Americans who gave their lives in the gulf war and ensure that they will not be forgotten. After all, as Lincoln said at Gettysburg:

The honor they earned on the battlefield cannot be added to

or detracted by us, and long after our words are forgotten,

their deeds will be remembered and celebrated.

But this monument will also remind future generations at home and abroad, friend and foe, of what American Armed Forces can do to rescue and protect the weak, and vanquish and punish the guilty, when competently commanded in the field and backed by the full resolve of the American people in a righteous cause.

I urge adoption of the measure.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Roe), the author of this measure.

Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the measure.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. McClintock for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of this very important procedural measure to site the memorial to honor the men and women who served and died in Operation Desert Storm and Desert Shield in Area I of the National Mall.

On August 2, 1990, Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait and, in less than 24 hours, dominated nearly 30 percent of the world's oil supply, swiftly setting his sights on neighboring Saudi Arabia. Recognizing Saudi Arabia's importance to the region, President George Herbert Walker Bush launched Operation Desert Shield, the deployment of American combat forces to Saudi Arabia, and ordered Saddam Hussein to remove Iraqi troops from Kuwait by January 15, 1991. With Kuwait still occupied after the deadline passed, over half a million United States armed services members led coalition forces in the liberation of Kuwait-- Operation Desert Storm.

Of the roughly 600,000 American troops who were deployed in both Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm, 294 died in theater, of which 148 were killed in action. The United States currently lacks a national memorial dedicated to the valor and sacrifices made by those members of our Armed Forces who fought honorably in Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

Mr. Speaker, it is important to note that no Federal funds will be spent to build this memorial. All funds will be raised privately by the National Desert Storm War Memorial Association. We must honor the men and women who fought honorably and valiantly in support of these operations and memorialize those who gave a life to free another.

The establishment of this memorial was authorized in the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2015. Passing this resolution is simply the next step in the process for site selection. The Secretary of the Interior has confirmed the historical value of the proposed memorial and deemed it worthy of being constructed in Area I of Washington, D.C., which includes the areas around other monuments to great American heroism.

In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, many of us in this Congress know many of the people who served in Desert Storm and Desert Shield, many personal friends of mine did, and many paid the ultimate sacrifice. It is time now we honor those heroes of this country.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, following the invasion and occupation of Kuwait by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, the United States and the international community demanded the immediate withdrawal of Iraqi forces under the threat of military action. After Saddam Hussein defied calls to withdraw from Kuwait, the United States, along with a broad coalition of European, regional, and global allies, began Operation Desert Shield, followed by Operation Desert Storm, a 100-hour land war which expelled the Iraqi forces from Kuwait.

Approximately 700,000 members of the American Armed Forces served as part of Operation Desert Storm and Operation Desert Shield. Of those, 293 died in theater and 148 were killed in action.

The 2015 National Defense Authorization Act authorized the National Desert Storm and Desert Shield War Memorial Association to establish a memorial as a commemorative work on Federal land in the District of Columbia. This honors the members of the American Armed Forces who served and those who made the ultimate sacrifice in support of our country.

The joint resolution before us today approves the general location of the memorial so that it is in close proximity to the National Mall and other nationally significant war memorials, as determined by the Secretary of the Interior.

This resolution is an opportunity for the country to come together and thank the servicemembers who fought in the Gulf, those whose lives have been forever changed by their experience in this war, and those who did not return.

I support this resolution, and I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes.''

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no other speakers.

I yield back the balance of my time.