[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2680 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2680

   To authorize the President to award a gold medal on behalf of the 
Congress to Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. (posthumously) and 
 his widow Coretta Scott King in recognition of their contributions to 
           the Nation on behalf of the civil rights movement.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              July 9, 2003

Mr. Lewis of Georgia (for himself, Mr. Houghton, Mr. Scott of Georgia, 
Ms. Kilpatrick, Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Pallone, Mr. Payne, Ms. Schakowsky, 
 Mr. Sandlin, Mr. Scott of Virginia, Mr. Shays, Mr. Snyder, Mr. Reyes, 
 Mr. Kennedy of Rhode Island, Mr. Larsen of Washington, Mrs. Jones of 
  Ohio, Ms. Corrine Brown of Florida, Mr. Conyers, Mr. Danny Davis of 
 Illinois, Mr. Acevedo-Vila, Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Mrs. Christensen, 
 Mr. Clyburn, Mr. Dingell, Mr. Serrano, Mr. Abercrombie, Mr. Becerra, 
Mr. Lampson, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Frost, Mr. Hinchey, Mr. Towns, Mr. Watt, 
   Ms. Woolsey, Mr. Gonzales, Mr. Rangel, Mr. Wynn, Mr. Hastings of 
 Florida, Mr. Moore, Ms. Slaughter, Mr. Owens, Ms. Millender-McDonald, 
  Mr. Cummings, Ms. Norton, Ms. Carson of Indiana, Mr. Ballance, Mr. 
Delahunt, Mr. Clay, Mr. Langevin, Mr. Davis of Alabama, Mr. Fattah, Ms. 
  Jackson-Lee of Texas, Ms. Majette, Ms. DeLauro, Mr. McDermott, Mr. 
Case, Mr. Smith of Washington, Mr. Ferguson, Mr. Markey, Mr. Honda, Ms. 
   Lofgren, Mr. Frank of Massachusetts, Mr. Skelton, Mr. Rahall, Mr. 
    Gilchrest, Mr. Leach, Mr. Portman, Mr. Berman, Mr. Thompson of 
 Mississippi, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, Mr. Terry, Ms. Lee, 
Mr. Ford, Ms. Watson, Mr. Meeks of New York, Mr. Rush, Ms. Waters, Mr. 
Meek of Florida, Mr. Upton, and Mr. Jackson of Illinois) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial 
                                Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To authorize the President to award a gold medal on behalf of the 
Congress to Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. (posthumously) and 
 his widow Coretta Scott King in recognition of their contributions to 
           the Nation on behalf of the civil rights movement.

    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) Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. and his widow 
        Coretta Scott King, as the first family of the civil rights 
        movement, have distinguished records of public service to the 
        American people and the international community.
            (2) Dr. King preached a doctrine of nonviolent civil 
        disobedience to combat segregation, discrimination, and racial 
        injustice.
            (3) Dr. King led the Montgomery bus boycott for 381 days to 
        protest the arrest of Mrs. Rosa Parks and the segregation of 
        the bus system of Montgomery, Alabama.
            (4) In 1963, Dr. King led the march on Washington, D.C., 
        that was followed by his famous address, the ``I Have a Dream'' 
        speech.
            (5) Through his work and reliance on nonviolent protest, 
        Dr. King was instrumental in the passage of the Civil Rights 
        Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
            (6) Despite efforts to derail his mission, Dr. King acted 
        on his dream of America and succeeded in making the United 
        States a better place.
            (7) Dr. King was assassinated for his beliefs on April 4, 
        1968, in Memphis, Tennessee.
            (8) Mrs. King stepped into the civil rights movement in 
        1955 during the Montgomery bus boycott and played an important 
        role as a leading participant in the American civil rights 
        movement.
            (9) While raising 4 children, Mrs. King devoted herself to 
        working alongside her husband for nonviolent social change and 
        full civil rights for African Americans.
            (10) With a strong educational background in music, Mrs. 
        King established and performed several Freedom Concerts, which 
        were well received and combined prose and poetry narration with 
        musical selections to increase awareness and understanding of 
        the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (of which Dr. King 
        served as the first president).
            (11) Mrs. King demonstrated composure in deep sorrow, as 
        she led the Nation in mourning her husband after his brutal 
        assassination.
            (12) After the assassination, Mrs. King devoted all of her 
        time and energy to developing and building the Atlanta-based 
        Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change as 
        an enduring memorial to her husband's life and his dream of 
        nonviolent social change and full civil rights for all 
        Americans.
            (13) Under Mrs. King's guidance and direction, the Center 
        has flourished. The Center was the first institution built in 
        honor of an African-American leader. It provides local, 
        national, and international programs that have trained tens of 
        thousands of people in Dr. King's philosophy and methods, and 
        claims the largest archive of the civil rights movement.
            (14) Mrs. King led the massive campaign to establish Dr. 
        King's birthday as a national holiday, and the holiday is now 
        celebrated in more than 100 countries.

SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.

    (a) Presentation Authorized.--The President is authorized to 
present, on behalf of the Congress, a gold medal of appropriate design 
to Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. (posthumously) and his widow 
Coretta Scott King in recognition of their service to the Nation.
    (b) Design and Striking.--For the purpose of the presentation 
referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury shall 
strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions, 
to be determined by the Secretary.

SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS.

    The Secretary of the Treasury shall strike and sell duplicates in 
bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 2 under such 
regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at a price sufficient to 
cover the costs of the duplicate medals and the gold medal (including 
labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses).

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 $30,000 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.
                                 <all>