John Cornyn: “I rise to address the resolution that is before us today and to speak in favor of its adoption. But before I do that, I…”

“I rise to address the resolution that is before us today and to speak in favor of its adoption. But before I do that, I think it is important first to read what the resolution says, because I think what we are actually going to be voting on has been misconstrued and, to some extent, inadvertently misrepresented. Also, during the course of my comments, I would like to address those who say that protecting Congress's prerogative to pass laws against flag desecration and those who say it is not important and emphatically disagree with them. And to those who say there are other things we can and should be doing, I say, well, we have been very busy doing a lot of very important things, but I certainly believe we have enough time in our crowded schedule to address this important issue as well. There are also those who say amending the Constitution is simply something we should not do, even though we have done so 27 times during the course of our Nation's history, and even though the 27th amendment to the United States Constitution provides that Congress can't increase its salary without having an intervening election. If we can amend the Constitution for that, which I agree is an important provision, we can certainly reinstate Congress's authority to pass laws protecting our national emblems and our national symbols such as the United States flag. There are also those who try to get off--and again, I know people of good faith have serious disagreements.…”