Congressional Gold Medal awarded to those killed during evacuation of Kabul

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Daniel Sharp

Today President Joe Biden signed a bill that posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to the 13 service members who died on August 26, 2021, while facilitating the evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Afghanistan.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">President Biden signs HR 5142 into law, posthumously awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to the 13 servicemembers who made the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan during the evacuation of United States citizens and Afghan allies. <a href="https://t.co/DukoWPF4q3">pic.twitter.com/DukoWPF4q3</a></p>&mdash; The White House (@WhiteHouse) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1471516158641717250?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 16, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The Congressional Gold Medal is Congress’s highest expression of appreciation for distinguished actions. However, one could argue that a higher form of appreciation would be to never again allow situations of such incompetence and negligence that led to the needless deaths of these heroes.

The official, albeit brief, statement from the White House about the Congressional Gold Medals was paired with the announcement the president has provided the authority to increase the debt limit by approximately $2.5 trillion.

The bill was signed several hours before the president awarded 3 Soldiers the Medal of Honor for their bravery in combat.

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