Medal of Sacrifice Act of 2025

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3497, the Medal of Sacrifice Act.

Every year, over 100 sworn law enforcement officers and over 100 firefighters die while on duty or from hazardous conditions related to their service.

While there are a number of different memorials for them, there is currently no memorial or medal that honors all public safety officers who die in the line of duty.

From 2015 to 2024, the leading causes of death for law enforcement officers were: COVID-19, job-related illness, car accidents, and shootings. These causes are responsible for 94 percent of line of duty law enforcement deaths.

I have had conversations with the families of fallen officers about their pain and struggles. They are why I worked to push forward a bipartisan bill, the Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act, which expands disability benefits for the families of firefighters and other first responders who develop cancer because of their service.

We were able to bring 179 colleagues together on a bipartisan basis to pass this measure, which was signed into law last December, to honor sacrifice not just in remembrance but through tangible support.

In that same spirit, I think we can, and must, come together on a bipartisan basis to do more to keep officers and the communities they serve safe in the first place by: investing in public health, making our roads safer, and combating gun violence so we can keep weapons out of dangerous hands.

Finally, in addition to this recognition, I can't really imagine what is going through the minds of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle when they say they support this bill when Republican leadership in the House still hasn't complied with the 2022 law passed by this body to honor the men and women of the Capitol Police and beyond who protected and defended us and our democracy on January 6, 2021.

It is a stain upon this institution that the plaque dedicated to those officers, to their patriotism and sacrifice, has not yet been installed in the Capitol because this administration and its lapdogs in Congress think they can rewrite history to hide their betrayal and cowardice.

Is it too much for the leadership of this body to have the decency to acknowledge that the Capitol Police, the Metropolitan Police, and others saved the lives of Members of Congress on that day at great personal risk to themselves? Is it too much to say thank you?

All that said, I support this bill to award medals of sacrifice to other public safety officers who lose their lives in service to their country and their communities, and I thank them.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, I endorse the comments of the sponsor of the bill. I totally agree we should be honoring the sacrifice of our public safety officers and it is right that that honoring should start from the top. I could not agree more that the President should be recognizing those public safety officers who have given all for this country, and I would put at the top of that list right now Brian Sicknick and Howard Liebengood.

Mr. Speaker, I am ready to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, I support H.R. 3497, the Medal of Sacrifice Act, which would award medals to honor those who lose their lives while serving as public safety officers. I encourage my colleagues to support it, too.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source