U.S. House approves
ban on flag burning

The Hawaii delegation
votes with the minority
opposing the resolution

Hawaii's two U.S. congressmen were on the losing side yesterday as the House approved a constitutional amendment giving Congress the authority to ban desecration of the flag.

Democrats Neil Abercrombie and Ed Case voted against the amendment resolution, which passed on a 286-130 roll call. A two-thirds majority was required for approval.

An informal survey by the Associated Press suggested the amendment's prospects in the Senate are no brighter than in the past, unless there is a switch in position by one or more senators.

The tally found 35 senators on record as opposing the amendment -- one more than the number needed to defeat it if all 100 senators vote.

Abercrombie said he is "deeply distressed" by reports of "misguided" individuals burning the American flag.

But he said the flag, among other things, represents the freedoms embodied in the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution, and, as a member of Congress, he must defend those freedoms.

Proponents of the resolution have not shown a compelling interest for changing the Bill of Rights to protect the flag.

"Indeed, the greatest honor we can render our flag is to protect the principles it represents," Abercrombie said.

The vote's outcome was never in doubt in the House, which had passed the measure or one like it five times in recent years. The amendment's supporters expressed optimism that a Republican gain of four seats in last November's election could produce the two-thirds approval needed in the Senate as well after four failed attempts since 1989.

Late yesterday, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., a possible presidential candidate in 2008, revealed that she would vote against the measure.

"As I have said in the past, I support federal legislation that would outlaw flag desecration, much like laws that currently prohibit the burning of crosses, but I don't believe a constitutional amendment is the answer," she said in a statement.