[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2078 Introduced in House (IH)]
107th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2078
To authorize the President to award gold medals on behalf of the
Congress to the family of Andrew Jackson Higgins and the wartime
employees of Higgins Industries, in recognition of their contributions
to the Nation and to the Allied victory in World War II.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 6, 2001
Mr. Jefferson (for himself, Mr. Tauzin, Mr. McCrery, Mr. Baker, Mr.
John, Mr. Cooksey, Mr. Vitter, Mr. Spratt, Mr. Taylor of Mississippi,
Mr. Kleczka, Mr. Baird, Mr. Kanjorski, Mrs. Thurman, Mr. Owens, Mr.
Clay, Mr. Holt, Mr. Walsh, Mrs. Mink of Hawaii, Ms. Carson of Indiana,
Mr. Gonzalez, Mr. Frost, Mr. Shays, Mr. Gordon, Mr. Filner, Mr. Oxley,
Mr. Wolf, Mr. Acevedo-Vila, Mr. Boswell, Mr. Waxman, Ms. Lee, Mr.
Hilliard, Mr. Dooley of California, Mr. McNulty, Mr. Baca, Mr. Reyes,
Mr. Mascara, Mr. Isakson, Mr. Skelton, Ms. Rivers, Ms. Baldwin, Mr.
Faleomavaega, Ms. McKinney, Mr. LaTourette, Mr. Thompson of California,
Mr. Rahall, Mr. Capuano, Mr. Borski, Mr. Coyne, Mr. Lewis of Georgia,
Mr. Udall of New Mexico, Mr. Rush, Mrs. Maloney of New York, Mr.
Maloney of Connecticut, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Clement, Mr. Fattah, Mr.
Becerra, Mrs. Jones of Ohio, Mr. Lipinski, Mr. Pascrell, Mrs. Morella,
Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. Costello, Mr. Rodriguez, Mr. Buyer, Mr. Wynn, Mr.
Baldacci, Mr. Abercrombie, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Blagojevich, Mr. Larson of
Connecticut, Mr. Rohrabacher, Mr. Gutierrez, Mr. Hall of Ohio, Mr.
Ortiz, Mr. Towns, Ms. Brown of Florida, Mr. Bishop, Mr. Ford, Mr. Davis
of Illinois, Mr. Clyburn, Mrs. Clayton, Mr. Hastings of Florida, Ms.
Jackson-Lee of Texas, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, Mrs. Meek of
Florida, Mr. Meeks of New York, Ms. Millender-McDonald, Mr. Payne, Mr.
Rangel, Mr. Scott, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Ms. Waters, Mr. Watt of
North Carolina, Mr. Honda, and Mr. Ryan of Wisconsin) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial
Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To authorize the President to award gold medals on behalf of the
Congress to the family of Andrew Jackson Higgins and the wartime
employees of Higgins Industries, in recognition of their contributions
to the Nation and to the Allied victory in World War II.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) Andrew Jackson Higgins designed, engineered, and
produced high speed boats and various types of amphibious
military landing craft, later to become known as ``Higgins
boats'', which were used by Allied forces during World War II.
(2) Higgins boats, constructed of wood and steel,
transported fully-armed troops, light tanks, field artillery,
and other mechanized equipment essential to Allied amphibious
operations, including the decisive D-Day attack at Normandy,
France.
(3) Andrew Jackson Higgins also designed, engineered, and
constructed four major assembly line plants in New Orleans for
mass production of Higgins landing craft and other vessels
vital to the Allied forces' conduct of World War II.
(4) Andrew Jackson Higgins' foresight, in purchasing the
materials needed to produce a large number of boats even before
the United States became embroiled in World War II, contributed
to the Nation's readiness when it finally did enter the war.
(5) Andrew Jackson Higgins instituted a progressive social
policy in his Higgins Industries factories by employing a
fully-integrated assembly line work force of more than 20,000
black and white men and women during World War II, with equal
pay for equal work, decades before legal requirements for
integration and racial and gender equality were instituted.
(6) Prior to November 1940, when Higgins Industries began
producing Higgins boats for the United States Government, the
Navy had only 18 landing craft in its fleet; by the conclusion
of the war, Higgins Industries had produced 20,094 landing
craft of all types and had trained more than 30,000 Navy,
Marine, and Coast Guard personnel in their use.
(7) In 1964, former President Dwight D. Eisenhower said of
Andrew Jackson Higgins, ``He is the man who won the war for us.
If Higgins had not developed and produced those landing craft,
we never could have gone in over an open beach. We would have
had to change the entire strategy of the war.''
(8) Together, Andrew Jackson Higgins and the employees of
Higgins Industries provided a decisive and essential
contribution to the United States and Allied victory in World
War II while practicing racial and gender workplace equality
far in advance of the norm for the time.
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDALS.
(a) Presentation Authorized.--The President is authorized to
present, on behalf of the Congress--
(1) a gold medal of appropriate design to the family of
Andrew Jackson Higgins in recognition of his contributions to
the Nation and to the Allied victory in World War II;
(2) a gold medal identical to the medal referred to in
paragraph (1) to the D-Day Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana,
for public display; and
(3) a gold medal of appropriate design to the D-Day Museum
in New Orleans, Louisiana, in honor of the World War II
employees of Higgins Industries and in recognition of their
contributions to the Nation and to the Allied victory in World
War II.
(b) Design and Striking.--For the purpose of the presentations
referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (hereafter
in this Act referred to as the ``Secretary'') shall strike gold medals
with suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by
the Secretary.
SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS.
Under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, the
Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold medals
struck under section 2 at a price sufficient to cover the costs of the
duplicate bronze medals (including labor, materials, dies, use of
machinery, and overhead expenses) and the cost of the gold medals.
SEC. 4. NATIONAL MEDALS.
The medals struck under this Act are national medals for purposes
of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.
SEC. 5. FUNDING AND PROCEEDS OF SALE.
(a) Authorization.--There is hereby authorized to be charged
against the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund an amount not to
exceed $60,000 to pay for the cost of the medals authorized by this
Act.
(b) Proceeds of Sale.--Amounts received from the sale of duplicate
bronze medals under section 3 shall be deposited in the United States
Mint Public Enterprise Fund.
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