119-s1915

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1915 Introduced in Senate

    (IS) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 S. 1915

 To rescind each Medal of Honor awarded for acts at Wounded Knee Creek 
 on December 29, 1890, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

 May 22, 2025

 Ms. Warren (for herself, Mr. Merkley, Ms. Smith, Mr. Padilla, Mr. 
 Sanders, Mr. Schiff, Mr. Blumenthal, and Mr. Wyden) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
 Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To rescind each Medal of Honor awarded for acts at Wounded Knee Creek 
 on December 29, 1890, and for other purposes.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Remove the Stain Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

 Congress finds as follows:

    (1) The Medal of Honor is the highest military award of the 
 United States.

    (2) Congress found that to earn the Medal of Honor ``the 
 deed of the person . . . must be so outstanding that it clearly 
 distinguishes his gallantry beyond the call of duty from lesser 
 forms of bravery''.

    (3) The actions of Medal of Honor recipients inspire 
 bravery in those currently serving in the Armed Forces and 
 those who will come to serve in the future.

    (4) Those listed on the Medal of Honor Roll have come to 
 exemplify the best traits of members of the Armed Forces, a 
 long and proud lineage of those who went beyond the call of 
 service to the United States of America.

    (5) To date the Medal of Honor has been awarded only 3,547 
 times, including only 151 times for the Korean War, 126 times 
 in World War I, 28 times during the Global War on Terror, and 
 20 times for the massacre at Wounded Knee.

    (6) The Medal of Honor is awarded in the name of Congress.

    (7) As found in Senate Concurring Resolution 153 of the 
 101st Congress, on December 29, 1890, the 7th Cavalry of the 
 United States engaged a tribal community ``resulting in the 
 tragic death and injury of approximately 350-375 Indian men, 
 women, and children'' led by Lakota Chief Spotted Elk of the 
 Miniconjou band at ``Cankpe' Opi Wakpa'' or ``Wounded Knee 
 Creek''.

    (8) This engagement became known as the ``Wounded Knee 
 Massacre'', and took place between unarmed Native Americans and 
 soldiers, heavily armed with standard issue army rifles as well 
 as four Hotchkiss cannons capable of causing serious 
 destruction.

    (9) Nearly two-thirds of the Native Americans killed during 
 the Massacre were unarmed women and children who were 
 participating in a ceremony to restore their traditional 
 homelands prior to the arrival of European settlers.

    (10) Poor tactical emplacement of the soldiers meant that 
 most of the casualties suffered by the United States troops 
 were inflicted by friendly fire.

    (11) On January 1, 1891, Major General Nelson A. Miles, 
 Commander of the Division of Missouri, telegraphed Major 
 General John M. Schofield, Commanding General of the Army 
 notifying him, ``It is stated that the disposition of four 
 hundred soldiers and four pieces of artillery was fatally 
 defective and large number of soldiers were killed and wounded 
 by the fire from their own ranks and a very large number of 
 women and children were killed in addition to the Indian 
 men.''.

    (12) The United States awarded 20 Medals of Honor to 
 soldiers of the U.S. 7th Cavalry following their participation 
 in the Wounded Knee Massacre.

    (13) In 2001, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, a member 
 Tribe of the Great Sioux Nation, upon information provided by 
 Lakota elders and by veterans, passed Tribal Council Resolution 
 No. 132-01, requesting that the Federal Government revoke the 
 Medals of Honor from the soldiers of the United States Army, 
 7th Cavalry issued following the massacre of unarmed men, 
 women, children, and elderly of the Great Sioux Nation on 
 December 29, 1890, on Tribal Lands near Wounded Knee Creek.

    (14) The National Congress of American Indians requested in 
 a 2007 Resolution that the Congress ``renounce the issuance of 
 said medals, and/or to proclaim that the medals are null and 
 void, given the atrocities committed upon unarmed men, women, 
 children and elderly of the Great Sioux Nation''.

    (15) General Miles contemporaneously stated that a 
 ``wholesale massacre occurred and I have never heard of a more 
 brutal, cold-blooded massacre than that at Wounded Knee''.

    (16) Allowing any Medal of Honor, the United States highest 
 and most prestigious military decoration, to recognize a member 
 of the Armed Forces for distinguished service for participating 
 in the massacre of hundreds of unarmed Native Americans is a 
 disservice to the integrity of the United States and its 
 citizens, and impinges on the integrity of the award and those 
 who have earned the Medal since.

SEC. 3. RESCISSION OF MEDALS OF HONOR AWARDED FOR ACTS AT WOUNDED KNEE 
 CREEK ON DECEMBER 29, 1890.

    (a) In General.--Each Medal of Honor awarded for acts at Wounded 
Knee Creek, Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota, on 
December 29, 1890, is rescinded.

    (b) Medal of Honor Roll.--The Secretary concerned shall remove the 
name of each individual awarded a Medal of Honor for acts described in 
subsection

    (a) from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard Medal of 
Honor Roll maintained under 

section 1134a of title 10, United States 
Code.
            (c) Return of Medal Not Required.--No person may be required to 
return to the Federal Government a Medal of Honor rescinded under 
subsection

    (a) .
            (d) No Denial of Benefits.--This Act shall not be construed to deny 
any individual any benefit from the Federal Government.
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