A spokes person from Walz's office notes that video of his remark of on the floor of the House in favor of repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell will be posted tomorrow.
Update: A reader passed along the link to the CSpan clip of the remarks. It's not embeddable.
She passed along the Congressman's written remarks prepared for the debate; they vary somewhat from the remarks on the floor.
Walz's written remarks:
Statement:
Thank you Mr./Madam Speaker.
The greatest privilege I have had in my life was serving this country in uniform for 24 years.
In the Minnesota National Guard, I had the honor of training soldiers from all walks of life. At the end of the day, I only cared about whether they could meet our rigorous training standards regardless of their sexual orientation, their race or their background.
I know how important it is to fill our military with qualified, professional and motivated volunteers. We are blessed in this nation to have so many exceptional young people signing up to serve in record numbers.
I have no doubt the brave men and women who serve our country have the professionalism to end this discriminatory policy. Frankly, I am offended by the notion that they may not be able to handle a change in policy.
These men and women make up the best fighting force in the history of the world. They accept and complete missions every single day that require unimaginable bravery.
In fact, these brave men and women have told us themselves they believe ending this discriminatory policy will not have a detrimental effect on the military or their mission in the DOD survey they completed this year.
This discriminatory policy is hurting our military readiness by removing service members we need to help us carry out missions around the world
Serving in the military, we were taught honor, honesty and integrity. Asking our soldiers to lie about who they are in order to serve is not consistent with those values.
It’s time we honor the sacrifices of these service members by letting them serve a country they love without fear. The time is now to honor all service members by allowing them to selflessly serve this nation and protect our people and our interests.
Soldiers know it is time to end this policy, the American people know it is time to end this policy.
Let’s vote to end it today.
Update: here's the video:
The House voted 250-175 to repeal the policy; the measure now moves to the Senate. At MinnPost, Washington reporter Derek Wallbank noted Don't Ask Don't Tell repeal clears the House; Minn. delegation splits 4-4. The St. Paul Pioneer Press's Political Animal Jason Hoppin points out Peterson among 15 Dems against DADT repeal.
As a resident of Peterson's district, I'm distressed by this vote. Young friends in the military--including some with service in war zones--tell me they simply have no objection to repealing the policy, with one exception.
Perhaps Peterson could learn about political courage from Walz. Perhaps he could learn about courage itself from the gay men and lesbians now selflessly serving the country they so dearly love--and honor it. Bigotry in defense of political power is simply wrong.
Photo: Congressman Tim Walz.
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