Dear [firstname],
As we head into Memorial Day weekend, I am reflecting on the incredible sacrifices of our military servicemembers and their families, and on the values our fallen servicemembers died to defend. |
Every year at this time, I find myself thinking about the quiet acts of remembrance that unfold across our communities, before the parades begin and before speeches are given. Volunteers and military families gather in cemeteries across our country (and at American cemeteries around the world) to place flags beside headstones, thousands of them, one by one. Each flag represents a person who once had a family, a hometown, a future, and dreams of their own. They all shared a willingness to serve something larger than themselves — a calling that led them to military service. |
Memorial Day is often described as a day to honor those who gave their lives in service to our country. It is that. But it also belongs to the families they left behind. Military service is never carried by one person alone. Behind every servicemember is a network of spouses, children, parents, siblings, and friends who share the burdens of deployments, uncertainty, and sacrifice.
For some families, Memorial Day is not simply a national holiday or the unofficial beginning of summer — it is deeply-felt personal grief that continues year after year. As a veteran and the daughter of a veteran, I carry those realities with me every Memorial Day. I think about the families in our own community whose loved ones never came home, and about our shared responsibility to honor them not only with words, but with action. By living in ways worthy of their sacrifice. This year especially, I find myself wondering whether we are truly honoring our fallen servicemembers by protecting all they fought and died for. |
This weekend, communities across Chester and Berks Counties will come together for parades, ceremonies, and moments of remembrance. I hope you will take part however you can — by attending a local event, visiting a memorial or military cemetery, spending time with veterans and military families, or simply taking a quiet moment to reflect on the freedoms we too often take for granted and our individual and collective obligation to protect them.
As for me, I spent Thursday morning helping clean the Vietnam Veterans Memorial alongside fellow veterans in Congress ahead of Memorial Day. It is a tradition that reminds me every year that remembrance is not passive. It is an act of care, gratitude, and responsibility. |
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We know that freedom is never guaranteed. Every generation inherits both the blessings of liberty and the responsibility to protect them, and that responsibility does not end with wars fought abroad. It also lives here at home — in our democracy, in our institutions, and in the rights and freedoms that generations of Americans have fought to defend. |
Recently, the Supreme Court weakened key protections in the Voting Rights Act, landmark legislation that, for more than 60 years, helped ensure all Americans can fully participate in our democracy. Almost immediately, states across the South began advancing new Congressional maps that eliminate or reduce representation for Black communities and weaken the voices of minority voters. These developments are a reminder that progress is not permanent. Democracy requires vigilance, participation, and a willingness to protect the rights of others, even when it does not directly benefit us personally. |
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In contrast to the spirit of Memorial Day, this week, my Republican colleagues in Congress are strangely taking this time to advance a budget package that would dramatically expand immigration enforcement funding — adding tens of billions of dollars to an already massive ICE budget, without meaningful new accountability or oversight. And they are doing this instead of taking action to bring down costs or enact serious immigration reform. They may even try to include funding for President Trump’s ballroom, even as families across our communities continue struggling with the cost of housing, childcare, groceries, and healthcare. |
Our budget and our laws are a reflection of our values. But right now, this President and this Congress have lost sight of what real people need, and of the freedoms so many Americans have sacrificed to defend. |
Even in difficult moments for our country, I try to stay hopeful, because I have seen what determined people can accomplish when they believe in the promise of our democracy.
Recently, I was humbled to receive the John Lewis Bridge Award from Voices for National Service, named for my former colleague in Congress, civil rights icon Congressman John Lewis. Congressman Lewis dedicated his life to expanding access to the ballot box and ensuring that every American’s voice could be heard. His example reminds us that democracy is not something we inherit fully formed. It is something each generation must strengthen, defend, and expand for the next. These lessons give me energy to fight to protect voting rights, push back on voter suppression and partisan gerrymandering, and make our government accountable to the people it serves. |
The ideas we reflect on during Memorial Day — service and sacrifice, freedom and democracy, liberty and justice — are not relics of America’s distant past. They impact our daily lives and our shared future. The freedoms to express our opinions, to vote in free and fair elections, to build better lives for our families, and to pursue opportunity and security are freedoms generations of servicemembers fought to protect.
Those we honor on Memorial Day served not only a nation, but the people who make up that nation, our neighbors, communities, families, and future generations they would never meet. They believed we were worth fighting for.
Their sacrifice asks us, too, to believe in each other. To care for one another, to protect our democracy, and to leave this country stronger for the generations that follow. This weekend, I will be thinking a lot about these asks. |
Chrissy Houlahan U.S. Member of Congress
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