[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 16964]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS

  The following petitions and memorials were laid before the Senate and 
were referred or ordered to lie on the table as indicated:

       POM-419. A resolution adopted by the House of 
     Representatives of the Legislature of the State of Texas 
     relative to memorializing Congress to posthumously bestow the 
     Congressional Medal of Honor upon Doris ``Dorie'' Miller and 
     to request the U.S. Postal Service to issue a commemorative 
     postage stamp to honor Miller; to the Committee on Armed 
     Services.

                        House Resolution No. 106

       Whereas, World War II hero Doris ``Dorie'' Miller exhibited 
     extraordinary courage on the USS West Virginia during the 
     December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, and his bravery has 
     not received the full honors and recognition that it merits; 
     and
       Whereas, A native Texan, Dorie Miller was born in Waco on 
     October 12, 1919, and enlisted in the United States Navy on 
     September 16, 1939; and
       Whereas, In the opening hours of America's entry into the 
     war, the 22-year-old assisted fellow sailors and his wounded 
     captain out of the line of fire to shelter; he then manned a 
     machine gun on which he had not been trained, seizing both 
     the initiative and the offense at a moment of critical 
     national peril, and fired at the Japanese planes until the 
     crew was ordered to abandon the ship; and
       Whereas, For heroism on the USS West Virginia, Admiral 
     Chester Nimitz bestowed upon Dorie Miller the Navy Cross, the 
     United States Navy's highest honor, during a ceremony on the 
     flight deck of the USS Enterprise at Pearl Harbor on May 27, 
     1942; Dorie Miller was the first African American to receive 
     that award; and
       Whereas, Dorie Miller was serving on the USS Liscome Bay, 
     an escort carrier, on November 24, 1943, when his ship was 
     sunk by a Japanese submarine in an attack which cost the 
     lives of 646 men; Dorie Miller was officially presumed dead a 
     year and a day after the carrier went down; and
       Whereas, Besides the Navy Cross, he was entitled to the 
     Purple Heart, the American Defense Service Medal--Fleet 
     Clasp, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, and the World War 
     II Victory Medal and in 1973, the United States further 
     recognized his military contributions by naming a frigate, 
     the USS Miller, after him; and
       Whereas, His actions on the USS West Virginia and his 
     valiant service to his country during World War II warrant 
     the highest honor that a member of the United States Armed 
     Forces can receive, the Congressional Medal of Honor, and 
     justify also a special philatelic commemoration that will 
     endear this man of courage and selflessness to his fellow 
     citizens and confer their utmost respect and gratitude; now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives of the 79th 
     Texas Legislature hereby respectfully request the Congress of 
     the United States of America to posthumously bestow upon 
     Doris ``Dorie'' Miller the Congressional Medal of Honor; and, 
     be it further
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives of the 79th 
     Texas Legislature hereby respectfully request the U.S. Postal 
     Service and the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee to issue a 
     commemorative postage stamp l1onoring Doris ``Dorie'' Miller 
     as part of their Black Heritage series and that the Texas 
     delegation to the congress--as well as the Congressional 
     Black Caucus--be hereby reverentially asked to join the 
     effort to attain issuance of such a postage stamp; and, be it 
     further
       Resolved, That the chief clerk of the Texas House of 
     Representatives forward official copies of this resolution to 
     the president of the United States, to the postmaster 
     general, to the speaker of the house of representatives and 
     the president of the senate of the United States Congress, to 
     all the members of the Texas delegation to the congress, and 
     to all members of the Congressional Black Caucus, with the 
     added request that this resolution be officially entered in 
     the Congressional Record as a memorial to the Congress of the 
     United States of America.
                                  ____

       POM-420. A resolution adopted by the House of 
     Representatives of the Legislature of the State of Texas 
     relative to memorializing Congress to enact legislation 
     relating to the assessment of penalties by a financial 
     institution for an insufficient funds check; to the Committee 
     on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

                       House Resolution No. 1300

       Whereas, The paper check, one of the world's oldest and 
     most common forms of payment, is widely accepted in the 
     United States and internationally; it is used by businesses, 
     governments, and consumers as payment for almost every type 
     of commerce; and
       Whereas, In most states, if the issuer of a check has 
     insufficient funds to cover that check, state law authorizes 
     a financial institution to impose a reasonable penalty 
     against the issuer in order to cover the administrative cost 
     of processing that dishonored check, and many financial 
     institutions elect to do precisely that; and
       Whereas, In addition, the recipient's financial institution 
     may charge the recipient--who typically is unaware of the 
     check's dubious status--a penalty for the dishonored check 
     and possibly could go so far as to charge back to the 
     recipient's account the amount of the insufficient funds 
     check even if the recipient's financial institution had 
     already made the funds available to the recipient, which may 
     consequently create overdrafts of the recipient's account 
     resulting in the recipient incurring additional penalties 
     arising from those overdrafts; and
       Whereas, Imposing a penalty upon the recipient of an 
     insufficient funds check is an unfair business practice 
     because it punishes the wrong party in this very common type 
     of financial transaction; and
       Whereas, Because financial transactions involving checks 
     frequently cross state boundaries, it is desirable that a 
     uniform, nationwide standard be established to address this 
     problem; now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives of the 79th 
     Texas Legislature hereby respectfully urge the Congress of 
     the United States to enact legislation to prohibit a 
     dishonored check recipient's financial institution from 
     assessing a penalty against the recipient and to instead 
     authorize the recipient's financial institution to assess a 
     penalty against the issuer's financial institution, which may 
     in turn pass that penalty down to the issuer; and, be it 
     further
       Resolved, That the chief clerk of the Texas House of 
     Representatives forward official copies of this resolution to 
     the president of the United States, to the speaker of the 
     house of representatives and the president of the senate of 
     the United States Congress, and to all the members of the 
     Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this 
     resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record 
     as a memorial to the Congress of the United States of 
     America.

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