To authorize the President to award a gold medal on behalf of the Congress to Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. in recognition of his outstanding and enduring contributions to the Nation.

February 27, 2003

Mr. RANGEL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services

To authorize the President to award a gold medal on behalf of the Congress to Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. in recognition of his outstanding and enduring contributions to the Nation.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

The Congress makes the following findings:

(1) Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. was born on October 8, 1941, in Greenville, South Carolina.

(2) In 1965 Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. joined the civil rights movement full-time, beginning his activism as a student leader in the sit-in movement and continuing as a young organizer for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference as an assistant to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

(3) On June 30, 1968, Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. became an ordained minister, having attended the Chicago Theological Seminary.

(4) Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. served as the national director for Operation Breadbasket and, in 1971 in Chicago, Illinois, founded People United to Save Humanity, known as PUSH.

(5) In 1984 Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. founded the National Rainbow Coalition, a national social justice organization devoted to political empowerment and to expanding educational and employment opportunities for disadvantaged people and for communities of color.

(6) In 1996 Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. merged the National Rainbow Coalition and PUSH to continue the philosophies of both organizations and to maximize their resources.

(7) Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. is, and has been for more than 30 years, one of the foremost political figures in the United States, playing a pivotal role in virtually every movement for human rights, civil rights, peace, gender equality, empowerment, and economic and social justice.

(8) Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. has been and continues to be counted on to serve as a champion and spokesman for a segment of the population whose voices all too often are not heard.

(9) Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. has been called the `conscience of the Nation' and the `great unifier', challenging the United States to establish just and humane priorities.

(10) Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. has led a myriad of successful delegations, marches, and missions for justice, peace, and reconciliation.

(11) Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. is a highly respected world leader who has acted on many occasions as an international diplomat.

(12) In 1984 Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. secured the release of a captured Navy pilot, Lieutenant Robert Goodman, who was shot down over Lebanon. He also negotiated the release of 22 Americans and 26 Cubans in Cuba during 1984.

(13) In 1990 Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. won the release of hundreds of foreign nationals, including 47 Americans, being held in Iraq and Kuwait by Saddam Hussein.

(14) In October 1997 Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. was appointed by President William Jefferson Clinton and by Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright as the Special Envoy of the President and the Secretary of State for the Promotion of Democracy in Africa.

(15) On May 2, 1999, Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. obtained the negotiated release of Army Specialist Steven M. Gonzales and Staff Sergeants Christopher J. Stone and Andrew Ramirez, 3 United States soldiers who had spent 32 days in captivity in Yugoslavia as prisoners of war and hostages.

(16) Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. has dedicated his life to the principles of freedom, peace, justice, international good will, and the struggle for civil rights and equality for Americans and for all peoples, at home and abroad.

SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.

(a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED- The President is authorized to present, on behalf of the Congress, a gold medal of appropriate design to Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. in recognition of his outstanding and enduring contributions to the Nation.

(b) DESIGN AND STRIKING- For the purpose of the presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary.

(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATION- Effective February 1, 2001, there are authorized to be appropriated $30,000 to carry out this section.

SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS.

(a) STRIKING AND SALE- The Secretary of the Treasury may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold medal struck under 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.

(b) REIMBURSEMENT OF APPROPRIATION- The appropriation used to carry out section 2 shall be reimbursed out of the proceeds of sales under subsection (a).

SEC. 4. NATIONAL MEDALS.

The medals struck under this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.

END