[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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