Va. Pledge of Allegiance Bill Withdrawn
By Lisa Rein Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, February 14, 2001; 12:32 PM
RICHMOND, Feb. 14 – The Virginia senator sponsoring a bill that would require public school students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance every morning abruptly withdrew the measure today, complaining that it was being watered down by a committee of "spineless pinkos."
Sen. Warren E. Barry (R-Fairfax County) was referring to the House of Delegates' Education Committee, which voted this morning to amend the bill so that local school districts could decide what penalties to impose on students who violated the law.
"The libertarians and liberals went to work on this bill, and they picked it apart so it doesn't have any meaning," Barry said, after he stormed out of the education committee meeting. "Why put something through that doesn't have meaning?"
Barry then called the 23-member panel "spineless pinkos," a Cold War era reference to Communist sympathizers.
The committee members, generally supportive of the bill, decided to take no final action on it today, to allow Barry a chance to bring it back to them when they meet on Friday. Barry said that's unlikely unless the panel keeps the provision saying that students who break the law must be suspended.
Senate Bill 1331, which passed the Senate overwhelmingly last month, would write into state law a policy now left to local school districts across Virginia. Teachers or principals would lead students in a flag salute every day.
The bill's language was first amended in the Senate from an original version that would have penalized students who refused the salute unless they had a note from a member of the clergy. The bill that passed the Senate would allow a child with a religious or philosophical objection to decline to participate.
But the education committee balked at the requirement that students who don't cooperate be suspended. The House panel agreed to strike that language from the bill, leaving it up to local school districts to decide what would constitute an appropriate penalty.
"Drugs and guns are now the only grounds for an automatic suspension, and those are criminal penalties," said Del. Thomas M. Jackson, Jr. (D-Carroll), whose change won unanimous support from the committee.
© 2001 The Washington Post Company