House Passes “In God We Trust” Resolution – Again
Staff Reports
Washington, D.C. – While millions of Americans are suffering and out of work, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives threw their hearts into the debate Nov. 4 over a resolution to reaffirm, yet again, that “In God We Trust” should be the national motto.
The motto had already been reaffirmed by an act of Congress in 2002. Then, in 2006, the Senate voted to reaffirm “the concept embodied in the motto.” This time the House passed a “new law” that said the “old law” should not be changed one bit.
Spearheading the bill was Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.), who said, “Unfortunately, we’ve had a number of key public officials who after the 2002 vote—apparently were confused about what the national motto was, and passing this resolution “provided clarity amidst a cloud of confusion about our nation’s spiritual heritage, and offered inspiration to American people that face challenges of historic proportion because of a growing pattern of inaccuracy and omissions surrounding the phrase.”
This latest controversy arose, in part, when President Obama said in a
speech in Jakata, Indonesia, “In the United States, our motto is ‘E
pluribus unum’—out of many, one.” That Latin phrase is, indeed, written
on the national seal. But it is not the national motto.
Not everyone saw Congress’s handling of this as time well spent with
the House spending thirty-five minutes debating whether the motto should
be re-reaffirmed. Its opponents insisted that the measure was a waste
of time. “The only reason for this resolution, frankly, is to declare
how good we are at diverting attention from the issues that we really
ought to be dealing with…pressing matters like the dire state of the
national economy. The House would rather spend its time reminding
everyone that it loves God,” said Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) during a
debate on the House floor.
Voting “No” on the resolution were Nadler and Democratic Rep. Gary
Ackerman of New York; Mike Honda, Judy Chu, and Pete Stark of
California; Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri; Bobby Scott of Virginia; Hank
Johnson of Georgia; and Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan. Democratic Reps.
Keith Ellison of Minnesota and Mel Watt of North Carolina voted
“present.”
The motto “In God We Trust” is credited to Francis Scott Key, who wrote
a version of it into a later verse of “The Star-Spangled Banner” (we
usually only sing the first verse). The motto first appeared on U.S.
coins during the Civil War and now is inscribed on all coins and dollar
bills.
