(12-25-24) On Monday, December 23, 2024, the President Joe Biden signed into law:

S. 4610, which amends title 36, United States Code, to designate the bald eagle as the national bird;

President Biden…Thank you to Senators Klobuchar, Lummis, Mullin and Smith, and Representatives Finstad, Craig and Emmer for their leadership.

In 1782, a version of the seal with a bald eagle was submitted by Secretary of the Continental Congress Charles Thomson and approved. This bill now makes it official.

Congress passed the measure with unanimous support.

Did you know?????

One of the most prominent opponents to the bald eagle’s status was Benjamin Franklin.

In a letter to a friend, Franklin wrote:

I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country; he is a bird of bad moral character; like those among men who live by sharping and robbing, he is generally poor, and often very lousy. The turkey is a much more respectable bird and withal a true, original native of America.