Russ Feingold: “we in the Senate speak today to honor the American flag, the symbol of our Nation. Both those who favor and those who…”

“we in the Senate speak today to honor the American flag, the symbol of our Nation. Both those who favor and those who oppose the amendment to the Constitution now pending do so. We all, of course, seek to honor the flag. I dare say that there is not a Senator among us who does not feel goose bumps when first looking up at the dome of the Capitol and seeing our flag. I would wager that no U.S. Senator fails to get a lump in the throat when standing to the strains of the national anthem. And I am confident that there is none among us whose eyes do not sometimes mist over when watching those seven bars of red and six of white ripple in the breeze and tug at the heart. But, my colleagues, honoring the flag demands that we here fully and fairly debate this amendment. Amending the Constitution is an undertaking of the greatest import. For the Congress to propose an amendment to the Constitution of the United States on the basis of anything less than a full--even an exhaustive--debate would show less than the full respect due to the flag and the Constitution that it represents. Honor demands that we view any effort to amend the Constitution with trepidation. Since the adoption of the Bill of Rights in 1791, America has amended its Constitution on only 17 occasions.…”