[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3271 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 3271

To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the Hmong people, in recognition 
of their highly distinguished service in the Vietnam war and the fight 
                           against communism.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            November 9, 2023

Mr. Peters (for himself, Mr. Johnson, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Tillis, and Ms. 
  Klobuchar) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
    referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the Hmong people, in recognition 
of their highly distinguished service in the Vietnam war and the fight 
                           against communism.

    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 ``Hmong Congressional Gold Medal 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) As the Vietnam war spread south and west into Laos, the 
        Central Intelligence Agency recruited and trained Hmong 
        tribesmen to fight back against the communist North Vietnamese 
        and Pathet Lao.
            (2) Over 30,000 Hmong men fought the ground war, flew 
        combat missions, gathered intelligence on North Vietnamese 
        troop movements, interrupted the Ho-Chi-Min Supply Trail, and 
        rescued American pilots downed behind enemy lines.
            (3) The Hmong people suffered heavy casualties, and their 
        soldiers died at a rate ten times as high as that of American 
        soldiers in Vietnam.
            (4) Following the Vietnam war, many Hmong were displaced 
        from their villages as they were either bombed or burned down 
        by the North Vietnamese and over 150,000 Hmong fled Laos when 
        the nation fell to communist forces on May 14, 1975.
            (5) Due to their ties to the American military, many Hmong 
        who fled Laos came to the United States as refugees to start a 
        new life.
            (6) Currently, there are over 327,000 Hmong living in the 
        United States.

SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.

    (a) Award Authorized.--The Speaker of the House of Representatives 
and the President pro tempore of the Senate shall make appropriate 
arrangements for the award, on behalf of Congress, of a gold medal of 
appropriate design to the Hmong people, in recognition of their highly 
distinguished service in the Vietnam war and the fight against 
communism.
    (b) Design and Striking.--For purposes of the award 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.
    (c) Smithsonian Institution.--
            (1) In general.--Following the award of the gold medal 
        under subsection (a), the gold medal shall be given to the 
        Smithsonian Institution, where it shall be available for 
        display as appropriate and made available for research.
            (2) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that 
        the Smithsonian Institution should make the gold medal received 
        under paragraph (1) available for display elsewhere, 
        particularly at other appropriate locations associated with the 
        service of the Hmong people in the Vietnam war, and that 
        preference should be given to locations affiliated with the 
        Smithsonian Institution.

SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.

    The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold 
medal struck under section 3, at a price sufficient to cover the costs 
of the medals, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and 
overhead expenses.

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.
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