Fallen Heroes Flag Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. KING of New York. I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I thank him for his years of service in law enforcement and for his dedication here in the United States Congress.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this legislation. I think it is particularly appropriate that this bill will be passed during National Police Week at a time when we honor those who put their lives on the line every day. This isn't just an abstraction. This is really very real, as we saw tonight with the delegation from Mississippi acknowledging their two police officers who were murdered on Saturday night. And just last week in New York a neighbor and constituent of mine, Brian Moore, a member of the NYPD, was shot down. He was murdered in Queens Village in Queens, New York, a young man, 25 years old. He already had 150 arrests. He was a member of an elite anticrime unit. He was shot down in the prime of life. His father was a retired police sergeant. His cousins were on the NYPD and also the Nassau County Police Department.

So these are real, Mr. Speaker. These are real lives. These are real lives that are lost. These are real people putting their lives on the line, and there are real families who suffer when they are left behind. That is why it is so important, I think, that we in Congress acknowledge that. One way to do that is by being able to present a flag signed by the Speaker and by the Member of Congress who represents the person who was killed in the line of duty.

Tonight we had a new Member of Congress sworn in,

Dan Donovan from Staten Island. Dan was with me on Friday at the funeral of Brian Moore. Also, we had two tragic deaths in December, Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, two NYPD officers who were murdered in Brooklyn. Dan and I were at that funeral along with thousands and thousands, in fact, tens of thousands of officers from all over the country.

So it is important that we stand in solidarity with the men and women of blue. They come under terrible onslaughts and attacks. So much of it is untrue, so much of it is slanderous, and so much of it is carried on by the media. But, Mr. Speaker, the fact is these men and women are out there every day. They are out there doing their job, and it is really important that we stand with them. The very least we can do is stand here in Congress and support them and also then pay them the tribute of standing with their family with the flag when that terrible moment comes that they lose their lives in the line of duty.

So with that, Mr. Speaker, I again thank the gentleman for his leadership, I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania for his bipartisan spirit, and I strongly urge support of this legislation.

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