[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1514 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1514

   To authorize the President to award a gold medal on behalf of the 
 Congress to Elouise Pepion Cobell, in recognition of her outstanding 
and enduring contributions to American Indians, Alaska Natives, and the 
            Nation through her tireless pursuit of justice.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 6, 2011

    Mr. Tester (for himself, Mr. Baucus, Mr. Akaka, and Mr. Inouye) 
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 a gold medal on behalf of the 
 Congress to Elouise Pepion Cobell, in recognition of her outstanding 
and enduring contributions to American Indians, Alaska Natives, and the 
            Nation through her tireless pursuit of justice.

    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) Elouise Pepion Cobell was born on the Blackfeet 
        Reservation on November 5, 1945, with the Indian name ``Little 
        Bird Woman''.
            (2) Elouise Cobell is a citizen of the Blackfeet Nation and 
        the great-granddaughter of Mountain Chief, a legendary Indian 
        leader.
            (3) In 1996, Elouise Cobell filed an historic lawsuit 
        against the Federal Government, seeking justice for the 
        Government's failure to account for billions of dollars 
        received in trust by the United States for the benefit of 
        500,000 individual Indians.
            (4) Throughout the prosecution of the suit that bears her 
        name, Elouise Cobell led the charge against governmental 
        malfeasance, and displayed unyielding resilience in her pursuit 
        of justice for this Nation's most vulnerable population.
            (5) After a more than 15-year, tenacious fight with the 
        Government, Elouise Cobell agreed to settle the lawsuit in 
        December 2009 for $3,400,000,000, making it the largest 
        settlement with the Government in American History.
            (6) Education of young people has long been a priority for 
        Elouise Cobell. To provide educational opportunities for Indian 
        children, Elouise Cobell created, as part of the lawsuit 
        settlement, a scholarship fund that will help Indian youth to 
        access higher education, academic as well as vocational.
            (7) Elouise Cobell is the recipient of many awards and 
        honors. In 1997, she received a ``Genius Grant'' from the John 
        D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation's Fellows program, a 
        portion of which was used to fund her lawsuit. Elouise Cobell 
        received the 2002 International Women's Forum award for ``Women 
        Who Make a Difference'' in Mexico City. In 2004, the National 
        Center for American Indian Enterprise Development presented her 
        with the Jay Silverheels Achievement Award. A year later, she 
        received a Cultural Freedom Fellowship from the Lannan 
        Foundation, an award that cited her persistence in bringing to 
        light the ``more than a century of Government malfeasance and 
        dishonesty'' in the Government's mismanagement of the 
        Individual Indian Trust. In 2007, she received an AARP Impact 
        Award, and in 2011 Elouise Cobell was named ``Montana Citizen 
        of the Year'' by the Montana Trial Lawyers Association. She has 
        received honorary degrees from Montana State University, 
        Rollins College, and Dartmouth College.
            (8) Elouise Cobell is a respected leader in Indian Country 
        for civic and economic development. For 13 years, she served 
        her own tribal community as treasurer for the Blackfeet Nation, 
        and has served on a number of Native American organizational 
        boards, including the board of trustees for the National Museum 
        of the American Indian. Her contributions to economic 
        development in Indian Country are substantial, not the least of 
        which is her role in the establishment and management of the 
        Native American Bank.
            (9) As a Montanan, Elouise Cobell has stayed invested in 
        issues affecting the Montana community by serving as a trustee 
        for the Nature Conservancy of Montana, while also working her 
        own ranch that produces cattle and crops.
            (10) Elouise Cobell has changed immeasurably the lives of 
        individual Indians and women in the United States, North 
        America, and around the world through her advocacy efforts to 
        obtain justice for the often overlooked population of 
        indigenous peoples.
            (11) Elouise Cobell's life and work has shined light on the 
        barriers confronted by individual Indians in the United States, 
        and her actions not only raise the national awareness of these 
        issues, they resolve them.
            (12) Elouise Cobell is an inspiration to women, individual 
        American Indians and Alaska Natives, and advocates who seek to 
        give voice to the voiceless and most vulnerable across the 
        globe.

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 Elouise Pepion Cobell in recognition of her outstanding and enduring 
contributions to the welfare of individual Indians in the United States 
and her inspiration to indigenous peoples across the globe.
    (b) Design and Striking.--For the purpose of the presentation 
referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (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. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS.

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

SEC. 4. NATIONAL MEDALS.

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

SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS; PROCEEDS OF SALE.

    (a) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
charged against the Numismatic Public Enterprise Fund an amount not to 
exceed $30,000 to pay for the cost of the medal 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 Numismatic 
Public Enterprise Fund.
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