H.R. 5772 — Remembering American Hostages Act of 2025

This section expands the required display of the Hostage and Wrongful Detainee Flag by (1) adding to the designated occasions in 36 U.S.C. §904(b)(2) the dates November 4 and January 20 (key dates of the Iranian hostage crisis), August 19 (date of James Foley's death), and October 7 (date of Hamas attack taking more than 240 hostages, including 12 Americans); (2) requiring display of the flag at specified locations in §904(b)(3)—Department of State offices and U.S. embassies and consulates in subparagraphs (D) and (E), respectively; Department of Justice offices in subparagraph (F), unless otherwise specified by the Attorney General; and passport issuance locations in subparagraph (G), in a visible location—on any day the U.S. flag is displayed there; and (3) adding to the federal officials responsible for display under §904(b)(3)(C) the Attorney General, Secretary of Education, Secretary of Transportation, and Secretary of Commerce.

This section expresses the sense of Congress that the federal government should encourage state and local governments and airports, in coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration administrator, to fly the Hostage and Wrongful Detainee flag on the days specified in 36 U.S.C. §904—including by distributing an executive order directing such display on days honoring the return to the United States of a citizen or lawful permanent resident held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad, or marking the death of such an individual in captivity. (Those days are U.S. Hostage and Wrongful Detainee Day (March 9), Flag Day (June 14), Independence Day (July 4), and days of such a return or death.)