Michigan senators split on flag vote
Michigan senators split on flag vote
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow have split over a constitutional amendment to ban flag desecration. The measure failed in the Senate by a single vote.
Stabenow, who previously supported similar measures twice in the House, was among 14 Democrats to vote last week in favor of the proposal, which read: ‘‘The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States.’’
‘‘The American flag is a national treasure that represents the values, traditions, and history of our diverse country,’’ Stabenow said. ‘‘I have had a longtime commitment to protecting the flag from physical desecration.’’
Levin voted against the measure, saying it would violate the First Amendment right to free speech. He noted that the Supreme Court had held that the burning of the flag was constitutionally protected speech.
‘‘Flag desecration is repugnant, but it would be a mistake to let a flag burner cause us to weaken our first amendment guarantees,’’ Levin said.
‘‘If we take this fateful step of singling out one symbol to exempt from the first amendment, will we next authorize Congress to make it a crime to rip up a copy of the Constitution or a copy of its Bill of Rights?’’ Levin asked.
The vote was one less than the two-thirds, or 67 votes, required to send it to the states for ratification. The House approved the two-thirds threshold last year, 286-130.
In the House, most of Michigan’s Republican delegation supported a bill to end the offshore drilling ban. It would end an Outer Continental Shelf drilling moratorium that Congress has renewed every year since 1981.
The moratorium has covered 85 percent of the country’s coastal waters — everywhere except the central and western Gulf of Mexico and some areas off Alaska.
Eight of nine Michigan Republicans voted in favor.
All six Democrats from Michigan voted against the bill.
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