Senator Schmitt Chairs Hearing on Protecting American Citizenship: “America is Kept by Citizens”

Schmitt Calls for Renewal of American Patriotism and Celebration of Our Nation's Legacy

U.S. SENATE - Yesterday, U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, held a hearing titled "Protecting American Citizenship IV: America 250 and Reclaiming American Citizenship." Senator Schmitt highlighted how our nation's Founding Fathers risked everything to declare American independence and establish our nation. 250 years later, Senator Schmitt called on Americans to remember and honor the legacy of those throughout our nation's history who helped make the United States great.

Watch the Senator's opening remarks here.

"In just a few days, on July 4, America turns 250 years old. A serious nation marks an anniversary like that by remembering the people who made the inheritance possible.

The American story begins with a Declaration. It does not stay on parchment. It moves. It crosses rivers, cuts roads through forests, climbs mountains, builds cabins, churches, farms, courthouses, towns, and states. It begins with the Founders, then it is carried forward by citizens…

"America was built by founders and frontiersmen, soldiers and statesmen, farmers and mothers, preachers and pioneers. They were mortal men. They carried an immortal inheritance. The Republic survived because ordinary Americans understood that freedom is inherited as a duty before it is enjoyed as a right.

"Last week, the Senate unanimously passed legislation to repass the Declaration of Independence. Now the House must act. Speaker Johnson should bring it up, pass it, and send it to President Trump's desk so the President can sign the Declaration again on Independence Day. That would be a national act of memory…

"That is why the fight over America 250 matters.

"America is kept by citizens. By people who know they belong to a nation, owe allegiance to that nation, and have a duty to pass it on. At 250 years, that is the spirit we must reclaim."

In Senator Schmitt's line of questioning, he examined what truly constitutes American citizenship, including commitment to the exceptional principles that animated the founding of our nation and our identification with our national history as a united people. He inquired about how patriotism and our nation's principles and history are being undermined and devalued. Witnesses told the Senator that this disillusionment is being driven by the accumulation of power in bureaucrats, failures in educating the citizenry, and weakening ties across our nation. Senator Schmitt and the witnesses agreed we need a renewal of American citizenship based on a commitment to the principles of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, as well as our nation's history, to reignite a sense of community and patriotism in our country.

Watch the Senator's line of questioning here.

Background:

Last week, Senator Schmitt re-passed the Declaration of Independence to revive these foundational national values and reaffirm the meaning of American citizenship.

###