[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1925 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1925

 To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Dr. Balazs ``Ernie'' Bodai in 
   recognition of his many outstanding contributions to the Nation, 
       including a tireless commitment to breast cancer research.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 21, 2015

Ms. Speier (for herself, Mr. Barton, Ms. Brown of Florida, Mr. Burgess, 
Ms. Judy Chu of California, Mr. Cohen, Mrs. Comstock, Mr. Connolly, Mr. 
Rodney Davis of Illinois, Mr. Dold, Ms. Eshoo, Mr. Farr, Mr. Hanna, Mr. 
 Hastings, Ms. Lofgren, Ms. Matsui, Ms. Moore, Ms. Norton, Mr. Payne, 
Mr. Sherman, Mr. Stivers, Mr. Takano, Ms. Wilson of Florida, Mr. Yoder, 
  Ms. Lee, Mr. Honda, and Mrs. Bustos) introduced the following bill; 
       which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Dr. Balazs ``Ernie'' Bodai in 
   recognition of his many outstanding contributions to the Nation, 
       including a tireless commitment to breast cancer research.

    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 as follows:
            (1) Dr. Balazs ``Ernie'' Bodai was born in Budapest, 
        Hungary, in 1951.
            (2) As a child, Dr. Bodai and his family lived in a bomb 
        shelter for over a year during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 
        before managing to escape and immigrate to the United States.
            (3) Dr. Bodai received his B.A. and M.S. degrees from the 
        University of California, Los Angeles, and subsequently 
        received his M.D. degree from the University of California, 
        Davis, at the young age of 26.
            (4) Dr. Bodai has authored over 250 medical articles and 
        published 5 books, 4 of which focus on cancer.
            (5) After working as a breast cancer surgeon for over 30 
        years and treating more than 15,000 patients, Dr. Bodai remains 
        frustrated with the pace of breast cancer research funding.
            (6) In 1996, Dr. Bodai launched a campaign to create a 
        postal stamp to benefit breast cancer research.
            (7) After several trips to Washington, DC, and countless 
        visits with United States Senators and Members of Congress, the 
        Stamp Out Breast Cancer Act, which allowed a breast cancer 
        stamp to be sold at up to 8 cents above the normal first-class 
        rate, was passed and signed into law in August 1997.
            (8) As a direct result of Dr. Bodai's tireless commitment 
        to breast cancer research, as of February 2015, more than 
        985,000,000 breast cancer stamps have been sold in the United 
        States--providing over $80,000,000 for crucial, life-saving 
        research.
            (9) The Breast Cancer Research Stamp recently surpassed the 
        Elvis Presley Stamp to become the all-time best seller for the 
        United States Postal Service.
            (10) In an effort to expand breast cancer research 
        internationally, in 2005, Dr. Bodai introduced the first ever 
        ``global stamp'' to raise awareness and funding to conquer the 
        disease worldwide.
            (11) As of 2014, as a direct result of Dr. Bodai's tireless 
        commitment, over 70 countries have either created their own 
        stamp or are in the process of doing so--making breast cancer 
        research, early detection, and eradication a global health 
        priority.

SEC. 2. 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 Dr. Balazs 
``Ernie'' Bodai in recognition of his many outstanding contributions to 
the Nation, including a tireless commitment to breast cancer research.
    (b) Design and Striking.--For purposes of the presentation referred 
to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (referred to in 
this Act 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, 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. 4. 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 sections 5134 and 5136 of 
title 31, United States Code, all medals struck under this Act shall be 
considered to be numismatic items.
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