[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1434 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1434

To authorize the President to award posthumously the Congressional Gold 
 Medal to the passengers and crew of United Airlines flight 93 in the 
aftermath of the terrorist attack on the United States on September 11, 
                                 2001.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 19, 2001

Mr. Specter (for himself, Mr. Bond, Mr. Bunning, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Burns, 
  Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Chafee, Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Ensign, Mr. Harkin, Mr. 
Helms, Mr. Kohl, Ms. Landrieu, Mr. Nelson of Florida, Mr. Schumer, Ms. 
 Collins, Mr. Crapo, Mr. Dorgan, Mr. Miller, Mr. Dayton, Mr. Nelson of 
   Nebraska, Mr. Corzine, Mr. McCain, Mr. Wellstone, Ms. Snowe, Mrs. 
  Carnahan, Mrs. Feinstein, and Mr. Conrad) introduced the following 
 bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, 
                       Housing, and Urban Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To authorize the President to award posthumously the Congressional Gold 
 Medal to the passengers and crew of United Airlines flight 93 in the 
aftermath of the terrorist attack on the United States on September 11, 
                                 2001.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Honoring the Passengers and Crew of 
United Flight 93 Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) on September 11, 2001, United Airlines Flight 93 took 
        off at 8:44 a.m. from Newark, New Jersey, destined for San 
        Francisco, California;
            (2) the plane was hijacked by 4 terrorists shortly after it 
        took off;
            (3) it is widely presumed that the terrorists who took 
        control of United Airlines Flight 93 intended to use the 
        aircraft as a weapon and crash it into the United States 
        Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.;
            (4) the passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93 
        learned from cellular phone conversations with their loved ones 
        of the fate of the 3 other aircraft that were hijacked earlier 
        that same day and used as weapons to murder thousands of 
        innocent people and destroy American landmarks;
            (5) the passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93, 
        recognizing the potential danger that the aircraft they were 
        aboard posed to large numbers of innocent Americans, American 
        institutions, and the symbols of American democracy, took 
        heroic and noble action to ensure that the aircraft they were 
        aboard could not be used as a weapon;
            (6) the 40 passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 
        93, in the ultimate act of selfless courage and supreme 
        sacrifice, fought to recapture their flight from the 
        terrorists; and
            (7) the struggle of the crew and passengers of United 
        Airlines Flight 93 against the terrorists caused the Boeing 757 
        to crash down in a sparsely populated area near Shanksville, 
        Pennsylvania at 10:10 a.m., September 11, 2001, possibly saving 
        countless lives in the Nation's Capital.

SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.

    (a) Presentation Authorized.--
            (1) In general.--The President is authorized, on behalf of 
        Congress, to award posthumously a gold medal of appropriate 
        design to each of--
                    (A) the United Airlines Flight 93 crew members--
                            (i) Lorraine G. Bay;
                            (ii) Sandra W. Bradshaw;
                            (iii) Jason Dahl;
                            (iv) Wanda A. Green;
                            (v) LeRoy Homer;
                            (vi) CeeCee Lyles; and
                            (vii) Deborah A. Welsh; and
                    (B) the United Airlines Flight 93 passengers--
                            (i) Christian Adams;
                            (ii) Todd Beamer;
                            (iii) Alan Beaven;
                            (iv) Mark Bingham;
                            (v) Deora Bodley;
                            (vi) Marion Britton;
                            (vii) Thomas E. Burnett, Jr.;
                            (viii) William Cashman;
                            (ix) Georgine Rose Corrigan;
                            (x) Joseph Deluca;
                            (xi) Patrick Driscoll;
                            (xii) Edward Felt;
                            (xiii) Colleen Fraser;
                            (xiv) Andrew Garcia;
                            (xv) Jeremy Glick;
                            (xvi) Kristin Gould;
                            (xvii) Lauren Grandcolas;
                            (xviii) Donald F. Greene;
                            (xix) Linda Gronlund;
                            (xx) Richard Guadagno;
                            (xxi) Toshiya Kuge;
                            (xxii) Hilda Marcin;
                            (xxiii) Waleska Martinez;
                            (xxiv) Nicole Miller;
                            (xxv) Louis J. Nacke;
                            (xxvi) Donald Peterson;
                            (xxvii) Mark Rothenberg;
                            (xxviii) Christine Snyder;
                            (xxix) John Talignani;
                            (xxx) Honor Wainio; and
                            (xxxi) 3 additional heroes whose families 
                        have requested that their names be withheld.
            (2) Modalities.--The modalities of presentation of the 
        medals struck under this Act shall be determined by the 
        President, after consultation with the Speaker of the House of 
        Representatives, the Majority Leader of the Senate, the 
        Minority Leader of the Senate, and the Minority Leader of the 
        House of Representatives.
    (b) Design and Striking.--For purposes of the presentation referred 
to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (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. 4. STATUS AS NATIONAL MEDALS.

    The medals struck under this Act are national medals for purposes 
of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.

SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary such sums 
as may be necessary to carry out this Act.
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