Congress mandates West Point add 'Duty, Honor, Country' to mission statement
S. 215 — Maintaining Academy Culture and Assuring Retention of Tradition, Honor, and Unity of the Republic Act (MACARTHUR) Act · Filed by Ted Cruz (R-TX) · 4 cosponsors · Introduced Jan 23, 2025 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill requires the Secretary of the Army to add the phrase 'Duty, Honor, Country' to the official mission statement of West Point within 30 days of enactment. It expresses Congress's sense that these principles should be central to the Academy's culture and cadet training. The bill has no direct financial impact and does not restrict or empower any private party.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is a mandate to add a phrase to an institutional mission statement. It is a symbolic gesture with no legal, financial, or policy substance. The acronym 'MACARTHUR' references General Douglas MacArthur, who famously invoked 'Duty, Honor, Country' in his 1962 West Point farewell address.
What the text implies
- The bill does not specify whether 'Duty, Honor, Country' replaces existing mission language or is added to it, leaving implementation discretion to the Secretary of the Army.
- No enforcement mechanism or timeline for verification exists; compliance is assumed but not monitored by Congress.
- The 30-day deadline is ceremonial rather than substantive—mission-statement changes are administrative acts that typically require no legislative oversight.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill is purely symbolic and aspirational—it does not change law, restrict rights, or alter public services. However, it also confers no concrete benefit to ordinary citizens. The civic relevance is limited to whether Congress should spend legislative time on ceremonial mission-statement language versus substantive policy.
Named in the bill
United States Military Academy (West Point), Secretary of the Army, General Douglas MacArthur (historical reference)
Where it stands
4 cosponsors: 4 Republicans.
- Jan 23, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Jan 23, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Armed Services · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (648 characters) on Sep 7, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,398 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-23.
“Congress mandates West Point add 'Duty, Honor, Country' to mission statement” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s215 Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.