[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 5 (Wednesday, January 10, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E68]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




INTRODUCTION OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA AND UNITED STATES TERRITORIES 
                 CIRCULATING QUARTER DOLLAR PROGRAM ACT

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                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, January 10, 2007

  Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, for the fourth time, the House has passed 
a bill to afford five insular areas and the District of Columbia a 
quarter bearing a design of their choice on the reverse side. 
Inadvertently, these Americans were excluded from the 50-State bill 
affording this same right to the States in 1998.
  We owe very special thanks to the successive committee and 
subcommittee chairs and ranking members on the Financial Services 
Committee. We especially appreciate the new Chairman Barney Frank who 
reached out to us to put this bill for consideration by the House on 
the suspension calendar.
  Forty States have had their State design on the reverse side of the 
quarter with four more States to be added before this year is ended. 
All the coins are minted according to the year each State ratified the 
Constitution of the United States or were admitted into the Union. 
Although States have appropriate latitude, there are limitations as to 
what can be used as a design. According to Public Law 105-124, the 
Secretary of the Treasury has the final approval of each design. The 
law gives clear guidance as to what is an acceptable design concept. 
Suitable design concepts include State landmarks, landscapes, 
historically significant buildings, symbols of State resources or 
industries, official State flora and fauna, State icons, and outlines 
of States. Among the examples of suitable coins already in circulation 
are, New York's Statue of Liberty, Missouri's depiction of Lewis and 
Clark as they paddled down the Missouri River with the Gateway Arch in 
the background and North Carolina's design depicting the first 
successful airplane flight. We look forward to the day when the 
residents of the District of Columbia and of the insular areas can see 
similar symbols of their jurisdictions and of their American 
citizenship appear on coins as well.
  This bill points out the importance of including all Americans in the 
symbols of American citizenship. The residents of the District and of 
the insular areas are full and equal American citizens. To leave them 
out of mere exercises of citizenship is to seem to deny the citizenship 
they revere and share with other Americans. The Americans who live in 
these districts have fought and died in our country's wars and have 
extraordinary records of service in the Armed Forces in considerably 
larger numbers than many States. District citizens, in addition, pay 
Federal income taxes.
  We in the Congress all represent proud Americans. There are, of 
course, significant differences between the States and the 
jurisdictions covered by this bill. However, qualification to be part 
of a program of quarter coins to commemorate congressional districts is 
not one of them. Under the Constitution, all Americans are equal, 
notwithstanding important differences in form, structure and other 
significant distinctions. Today, by including all Americans, Congress 
avoids any appearance of differential or discriminatory treatment and 
any implication that these areas are colonies, never the intention when 
the five jurisdictions were not included in the original bill in 1998, 
as the House has made clear by repeatedly bringing this bill to the 
floor.
  Today, when our country is at war and faces unparalleled dangers, 
this bill is yet another example of our unity as Americans and our 
indivisibility in honoring all of our country's citizens. By repeatedly 
passing this measure, the House has made it abundantly clear that we 
are one country and that our hope is that the Senate will join us.

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