Iran Hostages Congressional Gold Medal Act

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. When Americans from across the country come to visit their Capitol, they are greeted by statues of some of the most influential men and women in our Nation's history: American trailblazers like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln, who happens to hail from my home State of Illinois. I am proud to serve as the Representative of our 16th President's former home, tomb, and the old State Capitol where President Lincoln delivered his House Divided speech in 1858. In that speech, Lincoln spoke out against slavery, including the Dred Scott decision, and delivered one of his most profound statements.

I will quote the President, ``A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved--I do not expect the house to fall--but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.''

While I am proud to hail from the land of Lincoln and see him, among others, who have fought for freedom represented in our Capitol, I also recognize that there are some symbols that were donated nearly 100 years ago that are not representative of our Nation today, a Nation that learns from our past and continues to strive to be a more perfect Union.

For anyone watching today's floor debate, it probably sounds familiar. That is because we voted at least twice in the last 2 years on legislation that would remove the bust of Roger B. Taney from the Old Supreme Court Chamber, and it is a move that I support, but previous legislation has gone nowhere in the Senate because its scope was much larger and aimed to remove several statues beyond that of Mr. Taney.

While I can appreciate that the bill before us today is more narrow in scope and that we are continuing the important discussion about which statues belong in the U.S. Capitol, I am disappointed that this bill didn't go through regular order and didn't go through the regular legislative process and come before the Committee on House Administration that is the committee that has jurisdiction over this issue.

Furthermore, this bill directs the Joint Committee on the Library to carry out the removal of the Taney bust. I point out, though, how antiquated the Joint Committee on the Library has become. It only meets once per Congress to organize, and any actual work of the committee is carried out by the Committee on House Administration and the Senate Rules Committees. Moving forward, I think we need to examine the effectiveness of the joint committee remaining in its current form.

I support removing the bust of Taney and believe statues like his only divide us as a Nation and do not represent the freedoms so many Americans have fought and died for.

It is also important to take a moment to reflect on the fact that for the past 1,005 days, these halls, while getting more people more recently, have been largely closed to the public. And many Americans have not had the opportunity to come visit their Member of Congress nor appreciate all the history, the art, and the statues that are displayed in the Capitol.

That being said, I look forward to the people's House fully opening come January 3 under a new majority.

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

Mr. Speaker, before my good friend from Maryland leaves the floor, I want to ensure that something is entered into the Congressional Record.

That I, Rodney Davis from Illinois, was minus 3 years old when my good friend, Mr. Hoyer, was sworn into the Maryland State Senate. To have a friend like Steny Hoyer, to be able to go out, like I am here in a few weeks, knowing that you have a bipartisan piece of legislation like this that is going to make Taney a gone-y when it comes to the statues here in the U.S. Capitol, and to know that we are talking and being able to have that bipartisan conversation is what I came here to do.

Steny, I know I am not supposed to address you here, but I am glad to yield to you if you would like to say something.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Maryland for his friendship.

I thank him for sparring with me over many issues over the years. We have had a great time with that. There is one thing I know about Leader Hoyer and a lot of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle here, they have a great sense of humor. They enjoy the ability to get to know one another on a humorous, friendly level. That allows us, in my opinion, to be able to get to know each other better, to govern together. Today is going to be a great example of that.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I am still waiting a bit. I sent a text to my colleague from North Carolina, who is supposed to come down. I apologize if this extends the votes this evening, but I don't think we will know the difference between 10:30 and 10:35. We will be all right.

This is a day, too, that I remind my colleagues and say thank you for working with the Senate to narrow the scope of this bill to the egregious statue that we talked about today, and that is of Roger Taney.

Roger Taney helped create in our Nation's history one of the most disgusting Supreme Court decisions that we have ever seen.

But in the end, it was the leadership of people like Abraham Lincoln, who represented my great State of Illinois and some of the counties that I currently represent right here in this institution, it was his leadership that he learned here in the House that he was able to then take on his path to become President at the most consequential time in our Nation's history.

The history of Abraham Lincoln and the leadership it took from him and the dedication it took to end the vile practice of slavery in this country, it is leadership and that historical lesson that we need to continue to teach for generations to come.

My colleague from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) talked about teaching about the bad decisions of people like Roger Taney in courts all across this country and institutions all across this country decades and centuries ago. They belong in our textbooks, and they belong in our history lessons.

This is my fear, Mr. Speaker. My fear is that we are forgetting that even the darkest parts of our Nation's history, the darkest parts of the Civil War, the darkest parts of world history, need to be taught, or many in future generations will forget how far we have come.

They will forget how, right now, the leadership and the dedication of so many people like Thurgood Marshall, Abraham Lincoln, and so many others that have served here in our government and throughout this country put us where we are today, where we have the most diverse Congress in our Nation's history.

We are the House that is representative of the people. Diversity is seen everywhere you turn here in this institution and on this floor.

That is, in part, because people stepped up like Abraham Lincoln after the dreadful Dred Scott decision and said enough is enough and corrected bad parts of our history.

But now, in today's day and age, you see people who didn't get the textbooks that taught all the history, didn't get the history lessons that they needed, defacing and destroying statues of Abraham Lincoln. Wow.

We have to be very careful that we don't let political correctness and uneducated decisions be put forth that will then inspire individuals to think that somehow every great leader in our Nation who is remembered with a statue in communities, even outside this Capitol and throughout our great Nation, are part of a problem. We need to do a better job.

That is the reason we need to open this Capitol back up. Part of the best education to understand our Nation's history is allowing Americans to get back into our hallways to be able to see the statues that we debate about here on the floor.

We can't educate the future leaders of America on the history of our government if they can't see, feel, and touch the history that exists right here in our Capitol.

Today, this bill that we are going to pass is a good thing. Tomorrow, and long after I am gone, my fear is that we will continue to have legislation put forward that will, unfortunately, go a lot further than removing the bust of Roger Taney. Let us, as Americans, be very careful.

Mr. Speaker, I see that my colleague has another speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, it is inspiring to hear my colleagues from both sides of the aisle throughout any debate talk about their passions, talk about what matters most to their constituents. Mr. Green has always been passionate about what matters most to his constituents, as I hope I have been over the last 10 years.

Mr. Speaker, I have to apologize. This might be one of the last times that I stand up and offer remarks on the House floor. A lot of my colleagues here must have been praying together because finally, finally, I have lost my voice. I sound like Peter Brady from ``The Brady Bunch.'' My apologies.

I am so thankful for the friendships that I have been able to make over the 10 years that I have served in this institution. But I want to make sure that I address some issues that we are talking about today in regard to statue removals, in regard to how we ensure that history, even all the darkest parts, are taught to all Americans, because that is the way we learn.

I learned, because I lived it, Abraham Lincoln's history. I take for granted what we have available in my district that epitomizes the strength of Abraham Lincoln.

If you ever want to see our Nation's history in action, I invite you. Come to my district, and I will take you to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, where many of my colleagues that have come and taken me up on that offer have been able to walk into a room and see an original copy, an original. They didn't have Xerox machines or copy machines back then. They had to handwrite the original copies of the Emancipation Proclamation.

That is what Abraham Lincoln means to our Nation's history and society's history and the ills that even existed after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.

We have to do better in this country. We can do better, and we are doing better. But in the end, we live in the greatest country in the history of the world that sends the most diverse people to our Nation's Capitol to stand here and debate freely how to govern our great Nation.

We will fight, and we will argue, but in the end, we will shake hands, disagree, walk away, and understand that we are better because we are not separated. We are not just Republicans and Democrats; we are Americans.

When tragedy hits the country, we come together in this House, and we stand together as Americans. I hope that continues even in the more polarizing environment that we have seen in this House in my lifetime.

I want to make a prediction that I hope doesn't come true. I hope that we can change that by setting an example in this House. I hope we don't try to continue to separate ourselves. I predict there will come a day when people will be allowed into a restaurant based upon their political affiliation or not. That is sad. I hope I am wrong.

I see so many opportunities in our Nation right now that are taken by those who don't want us to believe in each other. They are taken away by social media posts that will continue to try and divide us.

I came here 10 years ago and got the ability to have dinner when I was in freshman orientation in Statuary Hall. I looked down and saw the plaque that sits in Statuary Hall that says Abraham Lincoln, his desk sits here, when he served one term in the House of Representatives.

It hit me that day. It sent chills that I have some pretty big shoes to fill, representing some of the same geography that Abraham Lincoln did when he was here centuries ago.

I knew we had a lot of work to do, and I will tell you, this institution has done big things over my decade serving here.

There are things like this, though, that I hope send a message to our Nation that we will stand up against those parts of our Nation's history like Roger Taney, the most dreadful parts of our Nation's history.

Mr. Speaker, I urge everyone, especially my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, to please ensure that history continues to be taught in our Nation's schools, that we learn about people like Roger Taney so that people in America don't repeat the same disastrous decisions that we saw happen with the Dred Scott decision.

Mr. Speaker, I think I have said enough. I support this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, Chairperson Lofgren of the House Administration Committee, for her work on this legislation. I will tell the chair that while we didn't always agree on issues coming in front of our committee, and we didn't always agree on how to run this institution, I always enjoyed being able to serve with her. It may not be reciprocated, but that is okay.

But in the end, you have a great team that I really enjoyed working with. I sincerely hope that this institution becomes less polarized. I certainly hope this institution becomes an institution where we can all govern together and make this country even greater than it is today.

Vote for this bill.

Let's get rid of Roger Taney.

Let's make him a gone-y once again.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding, and I thank the ranking member, Mr. Davis, for his support of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, the Capitol Building is the wellspring of American democracy, freedom, and equality. We don't always live that out as perfectly as we would like, but it is that simple.

Every time I walk to the floor, Mr. Speaker, I pass sandstone blocks quarried and hewn centuries ago by enslaved Black Americans. It is a tragic irony that the people's House was built by Americans who were originally excluded from those extraordinary first three words of our Constitution, ``We the People.''

While we cannot remove the stones and bricks that were placed here in bondage, we can ensure that the movable pieces of art we display here celebrate freedom; not slavery, not sedition, not segregation. That is why I sponsored legislation, which the House passed earlier this Congress, that would have removed the statues of those who supported slavery and segregation from the Capitol as well as the bust of Chief Justice Roger Brook Taney from the Old Senate Chamber.

That bill was cosponsored by Mr. Clyburn, the Democratic whip; by Joyce Beatty, the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus; and Karen Bass, who was then the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and is about to be the mayor of Los Angeles.

That bill regarding whether ``all men are created equal,'' in his disgraceful Dred Scott ruling, Roger Brook Taney argued this: The general words above quoted, that is, all men are created equal, would seem to embrace the whole human family, and if they were used in a similar instrument at this day--which was 1858--would be so understood.

I want you to think about that for a second. He said that when they acted in 1787, they said that all men were created equal. Today, of course, we would say all people are created equal. But Taney observed in 1858 that those words said some 70 years prior to that would lock them into the bigotry and division. And so he interpreted not in terms of what they would believe in 1858 but what they believed in 1787.

He went on to say: But the enslaved African-American race were not intended to be included and formed no part of the people who framed and adopted this Declaration.

His narrow-minded, orginalist philosophy failed to acknowledge America's capacity for moral growth and for progress.

Indeed, the genius of our Constitution is that it did have moral growth. It did have expanded vision. It did have greater wisdom. Taney's ruling denied Black American citizenship, upheld slavery, and contributed, frankly, to the outbreak of the Civil War. That is why I and so many others advocated for his statue's removal from the Maryland State House.

When I was sworn into the Maryland Senate in January of 1967, Roger Brook Taney's statue stood on the east front of the Capitol of Maryland in Annapolis. It has since been removed. Governor Hogan, a Republican, led that effort to remove it.

The Maryland legislature led by Democrats supported that effort. And

the irony is if you are on the east Capitol front, prior to his removal, you would have gone from Roger Brook Taney; if you had walked through the Annapolis State House, some 500 feet, come out on the west side, walked down the steps, you would have walked into the Thurgood Marshall Park.

What a historic vision of the growth of America, of the change of America, of the opening up and more equal America.

I advocated for this statue being removed in Maryland and for this bust to be removed from the entrance to the Old Senate Chamber.

I am glad that this is passing in a bipartisan fashion.

I am disappointed the Senate isn't ready to remove all the statues in the original bill. I am glad that we agree that Taney's bust needs to go immediately.

Mr. Speaker, I will continue to work with my colleagues next Congress to remove the other statues.

I look forward to advancing that mission with Democratic Whip Jim Clyburn, Chairwoman Barbara Lee, who I did fail to mention--she was the principal sponsor of this bill--and Chairwoman Joyce Beatty; all of them, along with former Representative Karen Bass.

They happen to be all Democrats, but there were Republicans, many, many Republicans, supporting this effort because they, too, stand for equality and justice. They played an important part in developing the prior versions of this bill and its reality.

Our legislation, as has been observed, would also commission a new bust for Justice Thurgood Marshall, not to be put outside of the Old Senate Chamber, because the historian rightly observed, he was not a member of the Old Senate Chamber, but it will be placed at some appropriate place in the Capitol as the first African American to sit on the Supreme Court of the United States.

As a towering civil rights leader, a defender of our founding principles, and the first Black Supreme Court Justice, Marshall is a Marylander worthy of a place of honor in these historic halls.

In removing Taney's bust, I am not asking that we would hold Taney to today's moral standards. On the contrary, let us hold him to the standard of his contemporaries: Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, whom the gentleman mentioned, and all of those of their time who understood that the enslavement of others has always been an immoral act.

Figures like Taney belong in history textbooks and classroom discussions, not in marble and bronze on public displays of honor. Yes, we ought to know who the Roger Brook Taney is, a man who was greatly admired in his time in the State of Maryland, but he was wrong.

Over 3 million people visit our Capitol each year. The people we choose to honor in our Halls signal to those visitors which principles we cherish as a Nation. For Black Americans who have grown up in segregation, faced racial violence, and still confront institutional racism, today, seeing figures like Taney honored here is a searing reminder that the past is present. It need not be, however, our future.

Just last year, the January 6 insurrectionists carried Confederate flags through the Capitol's corridors, desecrated the poster outside my office honoring my friend John Lewis, and screamed racial slurs at police officers as they protected the lives and defended our Capitol.

That was a modern manifestation of the hatred of our past. As our friend Elijah Cummings used to say, ``We are better than this.'' And it need not be our future.

Taney represents that which holds our country back: Exclusion, injustice, complacency, and prejudice.

Thurgood Marshall conveys that which drives America forward: Inclusion, equality, perseverance, and justice.

Every Member of this body, all 435, talk in those terms. Such a change would show visitors that America does not shy away from our past; we rise above it to seize a better future.

It would show them that only in America could a man use the same court that wrongly upheld the enslavement of his own ancestors to expand the Constitution's promise of the blessings of liberty. It would show them that ``We the People'' means all the people.

Vote ``yes'' to celebrate freedom and democracy and justice in this Capitol.

Vote ``yes'' to declare that the hatred of our past need not and must not define our future.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend for yielding. I would say that we are going to miss my friend who has been a person willing to work across the aisle on principles that this bill reflects, and I thank him for that. We will miss him.

I will remain here. I will not be majority leader, but I will remain working on behalf of the principles that are the best in our country. They are not Republican principles or Democratic principles; they are American principles. And that, I think, is what we all should, and most of the time, do.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 5229) to direct the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library to remove the bust of Roger Brooke Taney in the Old Supreme Court Chamber of the Capitol and to obtain a bust of Thurgood Marshall for installation in the Capitol or on the Capitol Grounds, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this measure under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in support of this bill.

This bill, which passed the Senate by unanimous consent last week, directs the Joint Committee on the Library to remove the bust of Chief Justice Roger Taney, which now sits in the Old Supreme Court Chamber and to add a bust of Justice Thurgood Marshall here in the Capitol complex.

S. 5229 is the Senate's version of H.R. 3005, a bill which, for the second Congress in a row, passed the House in an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote.

The United States Capitol is a beacon of democracy, freedom, and equality. It is visited by millions of people each year. What and who we choose to honor in this building should represent our values.

Chief Justice Taney, who in the infamous Dred Scott decision declared that African Americans could never be citizens of the United States and had no constitutional rights, does not meet this standard.

As Senator Charles Sumner said during the 1865 debate on the bill originally authorizing the Taney bust, and I quote Senator Sumner, ``I speak what cannot be denied when I declare that the opinion of the Chief Justice in the

case of Dred Scott was more thoroughly abominable than anything of the kind in the history of courts. Judicial baseness reached its lowest point on that occasion.'' More than 150 years later, those words still ring true.

Who better to add to the Capitol complex than Justice Thurgood Marshall? Justice Marshall was a pillar of the civil rights movement and a tireless fighter for justice and equality. From his early days as a litigator, fighting to end Jim Crow and school segregation, to his appointment as the first African-American United States Supreme Court Justice, Justice Marshall is among the most important figures of American history.

Although I am disappointed that S. 5229 does not go as far as the House-passed bill did to rid the Capitol of statues and busts of white supremacists and those who served the Confederacy, we should not allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good. Let's take this opportunity to rid our Capitol of the bust of the man who does not deserve the honor and add one of a man who unquestionably does.

Now, some may argue that this action is an attempt to erase and forget our history. Nothing could be further from the truth. We must never forget our Nation's shameful periods of slavery, segregation, and racism, but this is about who we choose to honor, who we choose to literally put on a pedestal and display as emblematic of our values.

I urge all my colleagues to join me in supporting S. 5229, and I reserve the balance of by time.

Mr. Speaker, I will note that I currently chair the Joint Committee on the Library, and I welcome the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), our majority leader.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee), my colleague on the Committee on the Judiciary.

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Texas.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Green).

Mr. Speaker, I would simply ask that all Members support this bill.

There have been a lot of really bad Supreme Court cases over the years, but I don't think it can be said better than Senator Charles Sumner said all the way back in 1865: The Dred Scott decision was more thoroughly abominable than anything of its kind in history.

Chief Justice Taney, the author of this dreadful decision, is really a scar on America and should not be in a place of honor in our Capitol.

Support this bill, and we will remove that stain.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 2607) to award a Congressional Gold Medal to the former hostages of the Iran Hostage Crisis of 1979 1981, highlighting their resilience throughout the unprecedented ordeal that they lived through and the national unity it produced, marking four decades since their 444 days in captivity, and recognizing their sacrifice to the United States.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on this legislation and to include extraneous material thereon.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 2607, the Iran Hostages Congressional Gold Medal Act, sponsored by Senator Padilla, which is a companion to a House bill sponsored by Representative Suozzi.

I thank Representative Suozzi for sponsoring this bipartisan bill, which would award a Congressional Gold Medal to the 53 hostages of the Iran hostage crisis, which occurred from November 4, 1979, to January 21, 1981, in recognition of their bravery in the face of egregious human rights violations. It has been more than 40 years since their release.

Representative Suozzi has been a tireless advocate in honoring these U.S. embassy employees who were taken hostage and uplifting their humanity. Last week, Representative Suozzi said on the floor that he was 17 years old when the hostages were taken and remembers the Iran hostage crisis as a painful time in our history. I am so appreciative of his dedication to this important issue and ensuring that these hostages are properly recognized for the sacrifices they have made that have had lasting effects until today.

I am pleased to be able to vote ``yes'' for this bill before his retirement at the end of this term, and I congratulate him on this important bill to celebrate the resilience and strength of the hostages.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. As I am awaiting the arrival of the gentleman from New York (Mr. Suozzi), who has performed able and faithful service in the House over his career, I would like to reflect on the Iran hostage crisis and its unfortunate foreshadowing of the behavior of the Ayatollah's regime that we are witnessing now on our TV screens today as they persecute brave men and women on the streets of Iran's major cities who are protesting for basic human and civil rights.

I know that I speak on behalf of my constituents in Massachusetts' 4th District when I say that the American people stand with those who are protesting the repression and the discrimination, particularly against women, that have been the hallmark of the Ayatollah's regime and that we feel that the values that they are fighting for are universal values, core human rights, and certainly hope and expect that they will be achieved.

Mr. Speaker, I also want to reflect on the great service of Mr. Suozzi, who has been an able member of the Ways and Means Committee and a wise counselor to those of us like myself who are new to this business in how to best represent our constituents and advance their priorities and reflect their values.

Mr. Speaker, I now yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Suozzi), the sponsor of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.

I appreciate Representative Suozzi's dedication to this important issue. This bipartisan bill will honor the bravery of the 53 hostages of the Iran hostage crisis, the U.S. Embassy employees, who were held hostage for 444 days.

Mr. Speaker, I again thank Representative Suozzi for championing this issue and urge my colleagues to support this bill. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairwoman of the House Administration Committee for her leadership. I also thank our resident historian, Congressman Hoyer of Maryland, for constantly reminding us of the better virtues of our history.

To my dear friend as well, a Congressman who was eloquent on the floor of his age but also his recognition of the importance of this legislation, I thank him for the bipartisan support.

Mr. Speaker, let me acknowledge my friends that have supported this legislation, including Joyce Beatty, Karen Bass, now mayor of Los Angeles, Barbara Lee, Jim Clyburn, and my cosponsorship as well, because we knew what was important and what had to be done.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support S. 5229, that is a downsizing of the House bill to direct the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library to remove the bust of Roger Brook Taney in the Old Supreme Court Chamber of the Capitol and to obtain a bust of Thurgood Marshall for installation in the Capitol or on the Capitol grounds and to be able to lift America up.

It is important to lift America up to her better angels in the understanding of the richness of our history. Those of us who are African Americans came first in the bottom of the belly of a slave boat. We have never had that acknowledged. But it was acknowledged in the Dred Scott decision when it was affirmed with this effort of Roger Brook Taney to say that we were less than a person, that it was all right to make those who were slaves not a human being; that our children were raised under that, and our grandchildren were raised under that.

I remind people that slaves were so long in slavery that they were born slaves, lived as slaves, and died as

slaves, which brings me to the importance of H.R. 40, the Commission to Study Slavery and Develop Reparation Proposals. We must get our hands around this issue of slavery and not be afraid of it.

The very fact that the bust will be removed, again, in the words that were said by my colleague, it will get rid of the horribleness of what happened, the outrage of what happened.

I believe the placing of Justice Thurgood Marshall's bust will be a grand step forward, a mighty step forward.

It is absurd. It is horrible. It is without understanding.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to support it.

As well, if I might, I want to raise S. 2607, the Tom Suozzi bill, Iran Hostages Congressional Gold Medal Act, and say that it is long overdue.

I met with the hostages' family members who had lived through this tyranny and had lived through it for many days, 53 hostages, which occurred on November 4, 1979. As I recall, they were held for over a year. There were many attempts to free them.

Mr. Speaker, they remained heroes and patriots, and I believe this is the minimum that we can do to give to those hurting families still, those children that I met, those grandchildren that I met that wondered what happened to their families.

Here we, as a Nation, will recognize that time of their lives when they never gave in to tyranny and never gave up their belief in the values of this Nation.

Again, we remind ourselves that democracy is precious, and it is not free. We must fight for it at every turn. Those who were held hostages as American citizens fought at every turn.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to support S. 2607, as well as S. 5229. They both represent the best of what America is, and they both represent telling our story, our history, and honoring it. This is a great democracy, and we must show it every day.