mr. speaker , i rise in strong support of h. j. res. 10 , the flag protection amendment , and i would like to thank the distinguished gentleman from california ( mr. cunningham ) xz4000910 for his efforts to protect our country 's most sacred symbol , the american flag . 
i would also like to thank our distinguished judiciary chairman , the gentleman from wisconsin ( mr. sensenbrenner ) xz4003650 , for his leadership in this area . 
i would also like to very briefly just address some of the allegations , particularly the one about not having hearings . 
as has been stated , we have had a number of hearings on this in the past . 
the interesting thing is when one holds these hearings or had we chosen to hold hearings again this time , i might add we had experts on both sides come and testify about this , there are allegations thrown at us , oh , here we go again , why are we holding these hearings once again ? 
so you are really damned if you do or damned if you do not . 
i would also invite those who might be following this debate to listen to where the inflammatory rhetoric , which side it comes from , allegations thrown against us that this is a crass exploitation of the flag when we have not done this , that , or the other thing . 
i think those of us on this side tend to want to keep this debate on a very civil level and i would encourage my colleagues to do that . 
since this country 's creation , nothing has represented the united states of america as honorably as has the american flag . 
from the top of this very capitol building to porches all across our country , the flag is synonymous with the principles on which this country was founded and the principles on which we still stand . 
each day it serves as a source of comfort and strength and holds the promise of a better future for all americans . 
however , there are those who , while claiming the very protections our country has to offer , would seek to defile it , to desecrate , to burn or otherwise destroy the very symbol that would seemingly protect their actions . 
since 1994 , and i want to emphasize this , there have been 119 incidents of such flag desecration , ones like the one that our distinguished chairman just indicated where somebody literally defecated on the flag . 
despite the will of both the federal and state governments to protect the flag from such abuse , the supreme court has struck down these efforts to protect our most sacred symbol and instead has protected these un-american acts . 
congress must act and a constitutional amendment is the only answer . 
if we could do this legislatively , if we could pass a statute as we have done in the past which has been struck down by the supreme court , we would do that . 
but the only way that we can protect the flag is to amend the constitution , and that is what this is all about . 
many of us believe very strongly in this . 
h. j. res. 10 , which has passed the house in its current form on four separate occasions , would give congress the authority it needs to once again protect the flag . 
i would urge my colleagues to support this amendment . 
