[MNJohnnie]

With all due respect, there are more important things for the Congress to be doing. Seen their schedule? They spend MORE time out of Washington then in it! Going to be worse since this is an election year. Sorry this is just one of those feel good PR ploys Democrats throw out so they can go home and claim "See we support the troops too". Actually I would be MORE impressed with a bill to increase pay and benefits like the Republicans passed LAST year or if a Salazar would offer up a bill to increase the size of the active duty military then this meaningless feel good PR stunt. OR how about this. OUTLAW the selling of medals. That ANGRERS me greatly that these symbols of honor earned can be SOLD at a flee market.

I respect all the very good work you do Cal, but this is a minor matter

[Calpernia]

I'm just supporting a job well done by a Congressman :)

[A.A. Cunningham]

This legislation was a result of the furor over the movie Wedding Crashers.

[SmithL]

this is a minor matter

I've got to disagree. Honor is never minor.

[Schwaeky]

Selling of medals is like simony (selling of relics and icons of a religious nature--which is a sin in both the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches...)

[dljordan]

" I respect all the very good work you do Cal, but this is a minor matter"

I have to agree with you. Let the veteran's groups "out" these people if it's that important. Congress legislates a new crime and we have to fund the enforcement. Just getting the records to prove a case may be a problem in many cases as some of them were destroyed in a fire in St. Louis years ago as I found out when I requested copies of mine.

[alarm rider]

Look, despite your concerns, the US government has replacement medals for everything from the Spanish American War on ,and they are all for sale. They are not hard to find with the exception of Medals of Honor of various branches.

For many reasons they need to be available. Many families want to honor their loved one with a collection of medals as a display that have been lost or thrown away. Many militaria collectors salvage medals that some clueless families offer for sale or just chuck.

Most replacement medals are not "named", that is they do not have the service members name engraved on them. For instance, the "good conduct" medal was given to just about everyone serving in the Army pre-WWII on. There are millions of them, they are worth almost nothing and they are widely available.

Taking all military medals off the open market is a fool's errand. It will not stop the trade, nor will it change much.