[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3734 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3734

 To amend title 5, United States Code, to designate Gold Star Families 
         Day as a legal public holiday, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 2, 2022

     Ms. Warren (for herself, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Kelly, and Ms. Rosen) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 5, United States Code, to designate Gold Star Families 
         Day as a legal public holiday, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Gold Star Families Day Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The term ``Gold Star family''--
                    (A) refers to the immediate family of a 
                servicemember who dies--
                            (i) while serving in the Armed Forces; or
                            (ii) from a service-connected injury or 
                        illness; and
                    (B) originated from the service flags first flown 
                by families during World War I.
            (2) The flags described in paragraph (1)(B) included a blue 
        star for each immediate family member serving in the Armed 
        Forces during any period of war or hostilities in which the 
        Armed Forces were engaged. If a loved one represented by such a 
        blue star died, the blue star was replaced by a gold star, 
        which allowed members of the community to know the price that 
        the family had paid in the cause of defending freedom.
            (3) There are Gold Star families from World War I and many 
        thousands from World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, 
        and Operations Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom, and 
        Enduring Freedom.
            (4) The United States recognizes the sacrifice that all 
        Gold Star family members make when a father, mother, brother, 
        sister, son, daughter, or other loved one dies in service to 
        the United States.

SEC. 3. GOLD STAR FAMILIES DAY AS A LEGAL PUBLIC HOLIDAY.

    Section 6103(a) of title 5, United States Code, is amended by 
inserting after the item relating to Labor Day the following:
            ``Gold Star Families Day, the last Monday in September.''.
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