Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley is cosponsoring a bill that would amend the U.S. Constitution to prohibit the physical desecration of the American flag.

“No other image depicts as clearly the freedoms and ideals of our country than the American flag.  It’s the symbol our men and women in uniform have fought for over 200 years,” Grassley said in a prepared statement. “The American flag has been proudly flown in times of battle, of victory, and of national tragedy. It is the most recognized symbol of freedom and democracy in the world.”

Grassley has cosponsored similar legislation twice before. In 2006, the amendment passed the Senate Judiciary Committee but fell one vote short of the two-thirds of the Senate needed for the amendment to be sent to the states for ratification. In 2000, the Senate fell four votes short.

Grassley said that the American flag should be protected from those who would desecrate it and demonstrate a basic lack of respect for our national heritage.

Overturning a Texas law in 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that burning an American flag in protest is a form of political speech protected under the First Amendment. Congress later passed a federal anti-flag-desecration law, and the high court invalidated it on the same grounds in 1990.