Rep. Ryan Zinke is introducing a bill to confer the Congressional Gold Medal on the four Americans who died in the Benghazi attack in Libya on Sept. 11, 2012.
Navy SEALs Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods; information management officer Sean Smith; and U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens died in the terrorist attack on the American facilities in Benghazi. The Congressional Gold Medal is the highest civilian award bestowed by the U.S. Congress
Zinke, a Republican from Montana, is himself a former SEAL who knew both Doherty and Woods, he said Monday on Fox News Channel's
"On the Record with Greta Van Susteren."
"They served their country well," Zinke said. "They died in harm's way on foreign shores. I think we need to recognize their contributions and their heroic deeds."
Though the Benghazi attack has been embroiled in political controversy, Zinke said the gesture is intended to be bipartisan and nonpolitical.
"I think it's Congress' way of identifying heroes and recognizing their contributions," Zinke said.
Debbie Lee, mother of Marc Alan Lee, the first Navy SEAL killed in Iraq,
first proposed the action for the two SEALs in September 2013.
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