John Mica: “I am pleased to rise here today for consideration of House Concurrent Resolution 40, which is necessary to permit the…”

“I am pleased to rise here today for consideration of House Concurrent Resolution 40, which is necessary to permit the House and the Congress to use the rotunda of the Capitol for a ceremony as part of the commemoration of the days of remembrance of victims of the Holocaust. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum was charged with providing appropriate ways for the Nation to commemorate the days of remembrance as an annual national and civic commemoration of the Holocaust. As a result of this legislation, the very first ceremony of remembrance was held in the rotunda in 1979. It has been held there every year since that time except for periods when the rotunda has been closed for renovations. House Concurrent Resolution 40, the resolution before us, will provide this year's national ceremony which will be conducted on April 30, 2003, in the rotunda of the United States Capitol Building. The purpose of the days of remembrance, again, is to ask all citizens, all Americans, to reflect on the Holocaust, to remember the victims and to strengthen our sense of democracy, our demand for human rights.”