mr. speaker , the constitutional amendment to ban the desecration of the american flag has become a ritual here in congress . 
since i started in the house of representatives this issue has come to the floor every congress . 
flag burning today is not a problem . 
in my years in congress , no one back home in oregon has ever complained about flag burning . 
the irony is that if this amendment becomes law more flags will be burned as psychos see this as their way to get on television . 
while i do understand the outrage that most of us feel towards those who make their points by trampling on our flag , the proposed constitutional amendment is unnecessary and counterproductive . 
on a serious note , we should not make changes to the bill of rights to deal with specific circumstances every time we are offended . 
no amount of rhetoric about flag burning will hide our failure to spotlight how congress is missing the point . 
the most basic and important way to demonstrate our patriotism is to support our troops , our veterans , and their families . 
we need to focus on doing our job here . 
