[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2387 Introduced in House (IH)]
113th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2387
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 14, 2013
Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York (for herself, Mr. Nadler, Mrs.
Lowey, Mr. Higgins, Mr. Engel, Mr. Rangel, and Mr. Grimm) 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
Catholicos of all Armenians and government leaders to help ease
tensions between Armenia and Turkey.
(8) He convened the Religious Summit on the Former
Yugoslavia in Switzerland and the Conflict Resolution
Conference in Vienna, mobilizing Catholic, Muslim, and Orthodox
Christian 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 was awarded the Department of State Special
Recognition Award from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ``for
his 30 years of partnership in helping Foreign Affairs
professionals to better understand the right to religious
freedom in the countries in which they serve''.
(15) 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 and
Romanian floods.
(16) 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).
(17) He was a United States delegate to the Stockholm
International Forum for the Prevention of Genocide (2004).
(18) 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.
(19) He holds the Ordination and Doctor of Divinity Degree
from Yeshiva University.
(20) In 2004, Yeshiva University honored him by
establishing the Rabbi Arthur Schneier Center for International
Affairs.
(21) He hosted Pope Benedict XVI at Park East Synagogue,
the first visit of a Pope to a synagogue in the United States
(2008), and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew (2009).
(22) He was invited by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia as a
keynote to the Interfaith Conference (Madrid) (2008).
(23) He was appointed by the UN Secretary General to the
High Level Group ``Alliance of Civilizations'' (2005) and he
was appointed Ambassador of the UN Alliance of Civilizations
(2009).
(24) He was honored with the Knight Commander of the Order
of Civil Merit by the Kingdom of Spain, Officer of the Order of
the Legion d'honneur of France, Officer's Cross of the Order of
Merit of Germany, Grand Decoration of Honor in Gold with Star
for Service to the Republic of Austria, Order of the Republic
of Hungary, Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the
Republic of Poland, the Order of the Star of Italian
Solidarity, Grand Decoration of Honor in Gold for Special
Services to the Province of Vienna.
(25) He received the Order of St. Daniel of Moscow, for
``his leadership in inter-religious cooperation and the
strengthening of ties between American religious communities
and the Russian Orthodox Church'' (2004).
(26) He was selected Friend of the Armenians for his
``solidarity with Armenians in the cause of human rights''.
(27) He received the Order of St. Andrew the Apostle
Athenagoras Human Rights Award for ``his contributions to the
improvement of tolerance and peace among all religions
throughout the world'' (2008).
(28) He received the Guru Nanac Interfaith Prize, Hofstra
University for ``fostering religious tolerance and
cooperation'' (2010).
(29) He was the recipient of eleven honorary doctorates
from United States and foreign universities.
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.
<all>