[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4714 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4714

To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Don and Deyon Stephens, Founders 
  of Mercy Ships, in recognition of nearly 40 years of service as the 
  leaders of a humanitarian relief organization that exemplifies the 
                  compassionate character of America.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 21, 2017

Mr. Gohmert (for himself, Mr. Brady of Texas, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson 
of Texas, Mr. Smith of Texas, Mr. Barton, Mr. Ratcliffe, Mr. Carter of 
 Texas, Mr. Poe of Texas, Mr. Babin, Mr. Burgess, Mr. Weber of Texas, 
Mr. Marchant, Mr. Sessions, Mr. Farenthold, Mr. Arrington, Mr. Flores, 
    Mr. Gene Green of Texas, Mr. Al Green of Texas, Mr. McCaul, Ms. 
     Granger, Mr. Williams, Mr. Conaway, Mr. Olson, Mr. Hurd, Mr. 
Thornberry, Mr. Cuellar, Ms. Jackson Lee, Mr. Sam Johnson of Texas, and 
Mr. Culberson) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Don and Deyon Stephens, Founders 
  of Mercy Ships, in recognition of nearly 40 years of service as the 
  leaders of a humanitarian relief organization that exemplifies the 
                  compassionate character of America.

    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) Mercy Ships was founded in 1978 and has worked in more 
        than 70 countries, providing services valued at more than $1.3 
        billion, treating more than 2.56 million direct beneficiaries.
            (2) Mercy Ships owns and operates the world's largest 
        private hospital ship, the Africa Mercy that has five state-of-
        the-art operating rooms and ward bed space for 82 patients.
            (3) Mercy Ships vessels are staffed by professional 
        volunteer crew including surgeons, nurses, doctors, dentists, 
        cooks, engineers, agriculturalists, teachers, and others.
            (4) Mercy Ships has performed more than 82,000 life-
        changing or life-saving operations such as cleft lip and palate 
        repair, cataract removal, orthopedic procedures, facial 
        reconstruction, obstetric fistula repair, and tumor removal.
            (5) Mercy Ships has treated over 147,000 dental patients 
        including over 390,000 dental procedures.
            (6) Mercy Ships has trained more than 5,900 local 
        professionals (including surgeons) who have in turn trained 
        many others.
            (7) Mercy Ships has trained over 38,100 local professionals 
        in their area of expertise including anesthesiology, midwifery, 
        sterilization, orthopedic and reconstructive surgery, and 
        leadership, thereby increasing medical capacity in the host 
        nation.
            (8) Mercy Ships has taught over 198,000 local people in 
        basic health care.
            (9) Mercy Ships has completed over 1,100 infrastructure 
        development projects focusing on water and sanitation 
        education, agriculture and construction projects which improve 
        local health care delivery systems.
            (10) Annually, Mercy Ships has over 1,600 volunteers who 
        help in locations around the world, 900 of which serve in 
        Africa. At any given time, there are more than 400 crew from 40 
        nations onboard the Africa Mercy.
            (11) The Africa Mercy alone has had over 4,900 crew from 74 
        countries serve onboard since its inception in 2007. In 
        addition, more than 950 local Day Workers from 12 different 
        countries have served alongside since it first docked in 
        Africa.
            (12) Mercy Ships has served some of the world's poorest 
        populations and completed over 589 port visits in 55 developing 
        nations and 18 developed nations for a total of 73 nations 
        including: Australia, Bahamas, Benin, Belgium, Belize, Brazil, 
        Canada, China, Congo Brazzaville, Columbia, Cuba, Denmark, 
        Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Fiji, 
        France, Gabon, The Gambia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, 
        Guatemala, Guinea (West Africa), Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, 
        Honduras, Italy, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Korea, Latvia, Liberia, 
        Lithuania, Madagascar, Malta, Mexico, Montserrat, The 
        Netherlands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, 
        Panama, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Samoa, 
        Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Spain, 
        St. Eustatius (NL), St. Kitts, St. Thomas, St. Vincent, Sweden, 
        Tahiti, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad, the United Kingdom, the United 
        States, and Vanuatu.
            (13) Through the years, Mercy Ships has had four hospital 
        ships that have served in some of the poorest ports in the 
        world. Those include:
                    (A) The 16,500-ton Africa Mercy is the world's 
                largest nongovernmental hospital ship and is dedicated 
                to the continent of Africa.
                    (B) The 522-foot Anastasis was the flag ship, and 
                completed her first relief mission in 1982 to 
                Guatemala. Her crew of 400 worked in Africa until she 
                was decommissioned in 2007.
                    (C) Acquired in 1994, the 265-foot Caribbean Mercy 
                with her crew of 150 focused on the Caribbean basin and 
                Central America with its Eye Surgery Unit. The ship was 
                sold in 2006.
                    (D) Donated in 1983, the 172-foot Good Samaritan 
                served the Caribbean, Central and South America for 11 
                years with a crew of 60. Renamed the Island Mercy, she 
                was redeployed to the South Pacific in 1994 and served 
                there until sold in 2001.
                    (E) Mercy Ships is currently building a new 
                hospital ship to serve Africa's most needy for the next 
                50 years with delivery expected in 2018. The new 
                vessel, larger than the Africa Mercy, will assume the 
                title of world's largest private hospital ship with 
                increased capacity building and a focus on healthcare 
                training. It will also further the commitment of Mercy 
                Ships to provide and promote through teaching, safe 
                surgery globally as demonstrated by their membership in 
                the G4 Alliance.
            (14) Mercy Ships has hosted Presidents and other heads of 
        state from many nations around the world onboard their hospital 
        ships who commended the free health care provided to their 
        people.
            (15) Mercy Ships has been endorsed by President Nelson 
        Mandela, President George Bush, Desmund Tutu, President Ellen 
        Johnson Sirleaf, Sir John Major, President Dr. Ernest Bai 
        Koroma, Tony Blair, President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Mary 
        Flake de Flores.

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 Congress, 
of a gold medal of appropriate design to Don and Deyon Stephens, 
Founders of Mercy Ships.
    (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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