\n<\/p>\n
\n\tOn Feb. 4, 2026, Bob Weir<\/a>\u2018s spirit was present on the House of Representatives floor. Congressman Jared Huffman made sure of it. The California Democrat, whose districts include Sonoma, Mendocino, Humboldt, and the Grateful Dead<\/a>\u2019s home base of Marin County, took off his shoes and socks, then stepped up to the podium to mark the moment. \u201cMr. Speaker, let the record reflect I delivered these remarks barefoot in honor of Bobby Weir,\u201d said the U.S. representative. \u201cI think he would appreciate that.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tA ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, Huffman has shared stages with members of the band in the past, tackling such issues as climate policy and environmental preservation. A guitar player himself, he\u2019d communicated with Weir by text a few weeks before the rock legend\u2019s Jan. 10 death. \u201cHe was just\u00a0sounding\u00a0off about the state of the world,\u201d says Huffman of the exchange. \u201cI told him what a weird trip it was to be in the arena in this moment, and Bob quipped back that he was glad that he was too old to be drafted.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tHuffman went on to use the \u201cspecial order\u201d session to recognize one of his musical heroes. He spoke to Rolling Stone<\/em> about his love of the Dead, and admiration for Weir.<\/p>\n \n\tTell us about your decision to honor Bob Weir during an official session of Congress.<\/strong> \n\tWhat is the standard procedure for this type of recognition?<\/strong>
Well, I really struggled with how to do something unique, because Bob and the Grateful Dead are nothing if not\u00a0totally unique. And at the same time,\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0constrained by rules of decorum and things like that.\u00a0So\u00a0Nancy Pelosi had loved to talk about how Bob would like to go barefoot, just as one of the idiosyncrasies of his free-spirited persona. And it just occurred to me that I should do that in my tribute.\u00a0I was worried that they were going to stop me in the middle of it and pull me off the floor, and I was going to get hit with a fine or something. But I didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
The way we do these short speeches during the\u00a0special order\u00a0hours\u00a0is:\u00a0We line\u00a0up in the front row of the House chamber.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0first come, first served. And as it got\u00a0closer and closer\u00a0to my time to step up to the podium, I\u00a0kind of tried\u00a0to subtly slip off my shoes and socks without anyone noticing.\u00a0And no one did.\u00a0A couple of my colleagues looked over and wondered what the heck I was doing, but not the sergeant at arms. I\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0really want a lot of people to know in advance.\u00a0<\/p>\n