As a veteran (Army and Navy service) and the father of a current Air Force Reserve officer, I am dismayed to learn that our sole U.S. representative, Lisa Blunt Rochester, did not sign on as a co-sponsor to House Resolution 5142 to award posthumous Congressional Gold Medals to service members who perished in Afghanistan on Aug. 26 during the evacuation of citizens of the United States and Afghan allies at Hamid Karzai International Airport and for other purposes.
This bipartisan legislation was introduced Aug. 31 and, as of Nov. 12, 326 had signed on as co-sponsors: 128 Democrats and 198 Republicans. But despite checking the co-sponsor list by date, by state and by party, the name of Lisa Blunt Rochester was not included as a co-sponsor to honor these service members.
These service members were at that airport in Afghanistan that day serving our nation, and it cost them their young lives. What unfathomable sorrow for their family members and friends. What a loss to our nation. Couldn’t our sole U.S. representative from Delaware, Lisa Blunt Rochester, at least have recognized their ultimate sacrifice and signed on as a co-sponsor to posthumously honor them?
Frederick C. Smiga
Frederica
