Paul Broun: “Veterans service organizations across the Nation often provide funeral honors at national cemeteries, including the…”

“Veterans service organizations across the Nation often provide funeral honors at national cemeteries, including the folding and presentation of the flag, the recitation of the flag-folding steps, and playing of Taps. As you may know, for a very brief period recently, the Veterans Affairs prohibited the flag-folding step, known as the 13-fold flag recitation, at funerals. In response to national outrage, the VA issued a letter to all cemetery directors in the National Cemetery Administration that states that 13-fold flag recitation will be allowed at veterans' funerals. While I commend this decision, the policy will allow employees and volunteers to recite the ceremony only if requested by the veterans' grieving family members. Families should not have to remember to request the 13-fold flag recitation. The recitation of flag-folding steps should be proactively offered. The choice to have the flag-folding ceremony read aloud should belong to the family of the deceased. That is why today I am introducing a resolution that requires the VA to offer families the choice of whether or not to have the ceremony and let the decision rest with the families and not with the bureaucrats here in Washington.”