PA House Intergovernmental Affairs and Operations — 2026-06-24

I now call the House Intergovernmental Affairs and Operations Committee to order, a name I often struggle with. Ms. Somerville, please call the roll.

Here.

Rep. Carroll.

Here by designation.

Here by designation.

Here by designation.

Fleming.

Gokenauer.

Madsen.

Probst.

Rusnak.

Here by designation.

Here.

Here.

Here by designation.

Here by designation.

Here by designation.

Jones.

Kutz.

Major.

Oldsummer.

Roswell.

Shuren.

Wallen.

We have a quorum.

Thank you, Chair. House Resolution 515 urges members of the United States Congress to award the Congressional Medal of Honor to Major Richard D. Winters of Easy Company, 101st Airborne, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 2nd Battalion Company.

Thank you, Chair Deloso, Chair Stats, members of the committee. You know, this is really truly an honor for me, but I want to start by saying my predecessor is here, Representative John Payne. and John right here over here John had for those of you don't don't know him I think some of you served with him uh John really inspired me to do this and had the opportunity and if you haven't seen it on YouTube you really should watch it to interview Major Dick Winters a true hero a true hero Band of Brothers that's all I need to say it's going to be the 25th anniversary for band of brothers. It's hard to believe. You know, and Dick, he made a comment. And when they asked him this question, they said, do you think you're a hero? And he said, no, but I serve with a company of heroes. And he has probably gotten every award from Congress, the Silver Star, everything under the sun. And he was not afforded the Congressional Medal of Honor. And he passed away in 2011. He called Hershey his home later in life, which is a great thing for all of us that live in that area. But he never got that award. And if there's one person in this world that deserves the Congressional Medal of Honor, it should be Major Dick Winters. Now, we named a bridge after him, and that's great. And they were able to afford him the Silver Star. But his heroics in Holland in 1944, when he led the bayonet assault against 250 German SS troops with about 25, I think 25 or 35 men, I think that really tells the tale. And that truly is why he should get the Congressional Medal of Honor. Now, this man was paratrooper, dropped in on D-Day. I mean, he lived it all. I mean, truly, truly a hero. So I'm asking for support of House Resolution 515 to urge Congress to give the Congressional Medal of Honor to Major Dick Winters and his surviving family. Thank you.

Thank you, Chairman DeLoso. And thank you, Representative Mahaffey, for introducing this resolution. I will say that I'm a proud co-sponsor of the resolution. It's always an honor to recognize our veterans, especially our World War II veterans. So I will be a very enthusiastic yes, and I will encourage all members to vote in the affirmative.

Thank you, Chairman. I just wanted to say thanks to Representative Mahaffey and former Representative Payne as well. growing up in Dauphin County. You heard about Dick Winters and his heroism. And like you said, we were blessed to have him settle here in Hershey, you know, as a member of the Democratic Party and, you know, someone who is on the opposite side. I could not recommend this enough. I think it's long overdue. And I thank you, Representative Mahaffey and Representative Payne, for shepherding this through. like I said Band of Brothers came out I think right when I was finishing up college and so Dick Winters became like his story became national but we knew about him here in Dauphin County so just wanted to lend my support as well hopefully we get a unanimous vote

Thank you, Chair. I'm sure all of you know my stance on resolutions. I'm typically a no on resolutions because I think the government has better things than to name days. However, I'd like to thank my colleague from Hershey for bringing up this resolution to honor our veterans. I will be a yes all day, every day, to support and honor our veterans. So thank you, Representative Mahaffey, for bringing this up, bringing it to us, and telling the story. So often we have our veterans that are unwilling to share their stories because they're so humble. But this is something that we can do to bring them honor, and we should be doing more of these. Thank you.

I appreciate this resolution being brought to this committee. Major winters, exploits, or I shouldn't even say exploits, accomplishments, heroism, throughout the Second World War were brought to the public by the Band of Brothers. You know, when he says he served with a bunch of heroes, a truer statement could never be spoken. But regrettably, during many veterans' career, the highest honors aren't recognized. And this may be a simple case of he was such a humble man that, you know, command didn't ask for a Medal of Honor. And, you know, frankly, I hope the president, the commander-in-chief, considers this resolution and does his due diligence because major winners deserves this honor. The Keystone State, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, will share it with him and his family and be very proud to do it. Representative Mahaffey, this is a fantastic resolution.