[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3665 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3665

To award congressional gold medals to former President Jimmy Carter and 
his wife Rosalynn Carter in recognition of their outstanding service to 
                  the United States and to the world.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            December 8, 2003

Mr. Bishop of Georgia introduced the following bill; which was referred 
                 to the Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To award congressional gold medals to former President Jimmy Carter and 
his wife Rosalynn Carter in recognition of their outstanding service to 
                  the United States and to the world.

    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) President Jimmy Carter and his wife, First Lady 
        Rosalynn Carter, epitomize the best qualities in American 
        service, volunteerism, and statesmanship, through their life 
        work in Plains, Georgia, and throughout the world. Since 
        leaving the White House, the Carters have redefined the role of 
        ex-President to help broker peace and fight disease worldwide.
            (2) President and Mrs. Carter have selflessly distinguished 
        themselves as exemplary public servants, both in the United 
        States and throughout the world.
            (3) Jimmy Carter, born James Earl Carter, Jr. in 1924, 
        attended Georgia Southwestern College and the Georgia Institute 
        of Technology and received his B.S. degree from the U.S. Naval 
        Academy in 1946. He then served the United States from 1946 
        until 1953, including service on the battleship USS Pomfret in 
        the Pacific and on the nuclear submarine Sea Wolf.
            (4) Later, Mr. Carter did graduate work in nuclear physics 
        at Union College.
            (5) After his service in the Navy, Mr. Carter returned to 
        Plains and became a successful businessman and farmer.
            (6) In Plains, Mr. Carter dedicated himself to local public 
        service as Chairman of the Sumter County School Board, Chairman 
        of the County Hospital Authority, President of the Plains 
        Development Corporation, and President of the Crop Improvement 
        Association.
            (7) After the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. 
        Board of Education held that segregation in the public schools 
        was unconstitutional, a White Citizens' Council movement in 
        Plains was organized in opposition. When Mr. Carter refused to 
        join in protest, his business was boycotted.
            (8) Jimmy Carter served two consecutive two-year terms in 
        the Georgia Senate. Rosalynn Carter was an important confidant.
            (9) Mr. Carter was elected Governor of the State of Georgia 
        in 1970, and called for an end to racial discrimination in his 
        1971 inaugural address.
            (10) President Carter was inaugurated as the thirty-ninth 
        President of the United States on Jan. 20, 1977.
            (11) As First Lady of the United States, Rosalynn Carter 
        focused national attention on the performing arts. She invited 
        to the White House leading classical artists from around the 
        world, as well as traditional American artists. She also took a 
        strong interest in programs to aid mental health, the 
        community, and the elderly. From 1977 to 1978, she served as 
        the Honorary Chairperson of the President's Commission on 
        Mental Health. She also served as the President's personal 
        emissary to Latin American countries.
            (12) President Carter's domestic accomplishments included a 
        long-term program designed to solve the mounting energy 
        shortfalls, including a limit on imported oil, gradual price 
        decontrol on domestically produced oil, a stringent program of 
        conservation, and development of alternative sources of energy 
        such as solar, nuclear, and geothermal power, oil and gas from 
        shale and coal, and synthetic fuels; an overhaul of the civil-
        service system; creation of new Departments of Education and 
        Energy; deregulation of the airlines to stimulate competition 
        and lower fares; and environmental efforts that included 
        passage of a law preserving vast wilderness areas of Alaska.
            (13) President Carter's foreign policy achievements 
        included negotiating the Panama Canal treaties; the historic 
        Camp David Accords between Israeli Premier Menahem Begin and 
        Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat, which provided the 
        foundation for a settlement of the Middle East dispute that had 
        eluded peacemakers for more than three decades; the SALT II 
        treaty with the Soviet Union; and the establishment of 
        diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China.
            (14) After serving as President and First Lady of the 
        United States, President and Mrs. Carter built the Carter 
        Center in Atlanta, a nonprofit organization promoting 
        international peace, human rights, conflict resolution, 
        democracy and economic development and the fight against 
        poverty, hunger and disease in some 65 countries throughout the 
        world, and particularly in developing countries. Mrs. Carter 
        currently serves as Vice Chair of the Carter Center, where she 
        leads a program to diminish stigma against mental illness and 
        to promote greater access to mental health care.
            (15) Since 1982, President and Mrs. Carter have been active 
        volunteers and serve on the International Board of Advisors of 
        the Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit organization that helps 
        needy people in the United States and in some 44 other 
        countries renovate and build homes for themselves. Since its 
        founding in 1976, Habitat for Humanity has built over 30,000 
        homes.
            (16) In December 2002, President Carter received the Nobel 
        Peace Prize for his ``decades of untiring effort to find 
        peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance 
        democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social 
        development''.
            (17) President Carter currently teaches Sunday school and 
        is a deacon in the Maranatha Baptist Church of Plains. He is a 
        distinguished professor and lecturer at Emory University.

SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDALS.

    (a) Presentation Authorized.--The Speaker of the House of 
Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate shall make 
appropriate arrangements for the presentation, on behalf of the 
Congress, of gold medals of appropriate design to former President 
Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter, in recognition of their life 
work and service to the United States.
    (b) Design and Striking.--For the purpose of the presentation 
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 pursuant to section 2 at a price sufficient to cover the costs 
of the 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 authorized to be charged against the 
United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be 
necessary, not to exceed $60,000, to pay for the cost of the medals 
struck pursuant to 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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