[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2865 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2865

    To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Rabbi Arthur Schneier in 
 recognition of his pioneering role in promoting religious freedom and 
    human rights throughout the world, for close to half a century.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 26, 2007

   Mrs. Maloney of New York (for herself, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, and Mr. 
   Lantos) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Rabbi Arthur Schneier in 
 recognition of his pioneering role in promoting religious freedom and 
    human rights throughout the world, for close to half a century.

    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 ``Rabbi Arthur Schneier Congressional 
Gold Medal Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) Rabbi Arthur Schneier, Spiritual Leader of Park East 
        Synagogue and Founder and President, Appeal of Conscience 
        Foundation, has played a pioneering role in promoting religious 
        freedom and human rights throughout the world, for close to 
        half a century.
            (2) The President of the United States awarded him the 
        Presidential Citizens Medal for ``his service as an 
        international envoy for four administrations'' and as a 
        Holocaust survivor, ``devoting a lifetime to overcoming forces 
        of hatred and intolerance''.
            (3) He received the United States Department of State 
        Special Recognition Award from Secretary Colin Powell for ``... 
        his ecumenical work in favor of mutual understanding, tolerance 
        and peace ...''.
            (4) In China in 2004, he headed an interfaith Appeal of 
        Conscience Foundation delegation which met with government 
        officials on behalf of religious freedom and strengthened 
        exchanges between religious communities in China and the United 
        States.
            (5) He has regularly led delegations of religious leaders 
        to China since the early 1980s.
            (6) In the Former Soviet Union, Rabbi Schneier was, in 
        2004, the keynote speaker at the Interreligious Conference on 
        Peace hosted by Patriarch Aleksey II.
            (7) In Armenia in 2002, he held meetings with the Catholics 
        and government leaders to help ease tensions between Armenia 
        and Turkey.
            (8) In Yugoslavia, he convened the Religious Summit on the 
        Former Yugoslavia in Switzerland and the Conflict Resolution 
        Conference in Vienna, mobilizing religious leaders to halt the 
        bloodshed in former Yugoslavia (1992, 1995).
            (9) In the Balkans, Caucasus, and Central Asia, he 
        initiated the Peace and Tolerance Conference in Istanbul, 
        Turkey, in cooperation with the Turkish Government and the 
        Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I (1994).
            (10) In Bosnia-Herzegovina, he met with top government and 
        religious leaders in Sarajevo to promote healing and 
        conciliation between the Serbian Orthodox, Muslim, Catholic, 
        and Jewish communities (1997).
            (11) Rabbi Schneier initiated the interfaith appeal to the 
        United Nations for the worldwide protection of holy sites, 
        which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in May 
        2001 as the resolution for the ``Protection of Religious 
        Sites''.
            (12) In 1980, he initiated the Annual Seminar on Religious 
        Life to educate Foreign Service officers in the religious 
        traditions of the countries of their assignment.
            (13) The Foreign Service Institute honored him in 2001 for 
        ``20 years of excellent cooperation in furthering the objective 
        of religious freedom''.
            (14) He has been very active in humanitarian missions, such 
        as mobilizing the American religious community in support for 
        the victims of the Armenian and Turkish earthquakes.
            (15) A United States Alternate Representative to the United 
        Nations General Assembly and Chairman of the United States 
        Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad, 
        he was one of 3 American religious leaders appointed by the 
        President of the United States to start the first dialogue on 
        religious freedom with President Jiang Zemin and other top 
        Chinese leaders (1998).
            (16) He was a United States delegate to the Stockholm 
        International Forum for the Prevention of Genocide (2004).
            (17) Born in Vienna, Austria, in 1930, Rabbi Schneier lived 
        under Nazi occupation in Budapest during World War II and 
        arrived in the United States in 1947.
            (18) He holds the Ordination and Doctor of Divinity Degree 
        from Yeshiva University.
            (19) In 2004, Yeshiva University honored him by 
        establishing the Rabbi Arthur Schneier Center for International 
        Affairs.

SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.

    (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 a gold medal of appropriate design to Rabbi Arthur 
Schneier in recognition of his pioneering role in promoting religious 
freedom and human rights throughout the world, for close to half a 
century.
    (b) Design and Striking.--For purposes of the presentation referred 
to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (hereafter in this 
Act referred to as the ``Secretary'') shall strike a gold medal with 
suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the 
Secretary.

SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.

    The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold 
medal struck pursuant to section 3 under such regulations as the 
Secretary may prescribe, at a price sufficient to cover the cost 
thereof, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and 
overhead expenses, and the cost of the gold medal.

SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS.

    (a) National Medals.--The medals struck pursuant to this Act are 
national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States 
Code.
    (b) Numismatic Items.--For purposes of section 5134 of title 31, 
United States Code, all medals struck under this Act shall be 
considered to be numismatic items.

SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF SALE.

    (a) Authority To Use Fund Amounts.--There is authorized to be 
charged against the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund, such 
amounts as may be necessary to pay for the costs of the medal struck 
pursuant to this Act.
    (b) Proceeds of Sale.--Amounts received from the sale of duplicate 
bronze medals authorized under section 4 shall be deposited into the 
United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund.
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