To provide for dime coins to bear the likeness of President Ronald Reagan, the Freedom President, in honor of his work in restoring American greatness and bringing freedom to captive nations around the world.

November 21, 2003

Mr. SOUDER (for himself, Mr. HASTERT, Mr. DELAY, Mr. BLUNT, Mr. CANTOR, Mr. COX, Mr. DREIER, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. DEMINT, Mr. KING of New York, Ms. DUNN, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. CRANE, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Mrs. JO ANN DAVIS of Virginia, Mr. CARTER, Mr. GOODE, Mr. LINDER, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. GALLEGLY, Mr. DOOLITTLE, Mr. POMBO, Mr. HUNTER, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. AKIN, Mr. FEENEY, Mr. BUYER, Mr. TIAHRT, Mr. BRADY of Texas, Mr. CHOCOLA, Mr. CULBERSON, Mr. BURGESS, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr. PENCE, Mr. JONES of North Carolina, Mr. WELLER, Mr. GIBBONS, Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida, Mr. KING of Iowa, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. PITTS, Mr. HERGER, Mr. THORNBERRY, Mr. HOSTETTLER, Mr. TOOMEY, Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey, Mr. KINGSTON, Mr. NORWOOD, Mr. TERRY, Mr. BISHOP of Utah, Mr. MCKEON, Mr. OSE, Mr. MANZULLO, Mr. OSBORNE, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. SHADEGG, Mr. WAMP, Mr. REHBERG, Mr. RADANOVICH, Mr. PEARCE, Mr. WELDON of Florida, Mr. LAHOOD, Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida, Ms. GINNY BROWN-WAITE of Florida, Mr. BALLENGER, Mr. THOMAS, Mr. HOEKSTRA, Mr. FORBES, Mr. TAUZIN, Mr. PAUL, Mr. ISSA, Mr. RAMSTAD, Mrs. MUSGRAVE, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. OTTER, Mr. CRENSHAW, Mr. WALDEN of Oregon, and Mr. SHIMKUS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services

To provide for dime coins to bear the likeness of President Ronald Reagan, the Freedom President, in honor of his work in restoring American greatness and bringing freedom to captive nations around the world.

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 `Ronald Reagan Dime Act'.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

The Congress finds as follows:

(1) President Ronald Wilson Reagan, through his efforts as the 40th President of the United States, created policies that renewed economic growth, strengthened the resolve of the free world together to oppose totalitarianism, and restored pride in the United States.

(2) In 1981, when Ronald Reagan was inaugurated President, he inherited a disillusioned nation wracked by rampant inflation and high unemployment.

(3) The policies of President Reagan brought about the beginnings of an economic boom that lasted almost unimpeded through the end of the 20th century.

(4) President Reagan was victorious in 49 of the 50 states in the 1984 general election, a record unsurpassed in the history of United States presidential elections.

(5) President Reagan, through his simple republican dignity and sense of personal responsibility to the United States of America, brought pride and honor to the Office of the President.

(6) President Reagan worked in a bipartisan manner to enact his agenda of restoring accountability and common sense to government, which led to an unprecedented economic expansion and opportunity for millions of Americans.

(7) President Reagan's commitment to an active social policy agenda for the nation's children helped lower crime in our neighborhoods.

(8) President Reagan led a national crusade against illegal narcotics, which resulted in a substantial decline in illegal drug use in the United States during his eight years in office.

(9) President Reagan wrote `Abortion and the Conscience of a Nation' for the 10th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade, which stated `Abraham Lincoln recognized that we could not survive as a free land when some men could decide that others were not fit to be free and should therefore be slaves. Likewise, we cannot survive as a free nation when some men decide that others are not fit to live and should be abandoned to abortion or infanticide . . . there is no cause more important for preserving that freedom than affirming the transcendent right to life of all human beings, the right without which no other rights have any meaning'.

(10) President Reagan's commitment to our armed forces contributed to the restoration of pride

in America, her principles of ordered liberty, and the heritage of Western Civilization.

(11) President Reagan's unshakeable commitment to freedom strengthened America's mission to proclaim liberty throughout the world and led to the collapse of global Communism, the fall of the Iron Curtain, and the toppling of the Berlin Wall, giving millions of people across the globe formerly shackled by the Soviets opportunity to live in peace and freedom.

(12) President Reagan marked the beginning of his Presidency by recalling with shame `the series of historical tragedies--beginning with the broken promises of the Yalta Conference--that led to the denial of the most elementary forms of personal freedom and human dignity to millions in Eastern Europe and Asia'.

(13) President Reagan brought courage to those people cut off from others who lived in freedom, reminding them that `Until the people of the Baltic States and Eastern Europe are free to choose their own system of government, we will continue to speak up for their rights and champion their cause'.

(14) President Reagan called the world's attention to the plight of captive nations tyrannized behind the Iron Curtain, from Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, which included millions of Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Poles, Germans, Czechs, Slovaks, Romanians, Bulgarians, Albanians, Croats, Serbs, Bosnians, and others, reminding us that `Free people, if they are to remain free, must defend the liberty of others'.

(15) President Reagan made a promise to `all in Eastern Europe who are separated from neighbors and loved ones by an ugly Iron Curtain. And to every person trapped in tyranny, whether in the Ukraine, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Cuba or Vietnam, we send our love and support, and tell them they are not alone. Your struggle is our struggle, your dream is our dream, and someday, you, too, will be free'.

(16) President Reagan boldly stood at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin, on June 12, 1987, declaring: `General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!'.

(17) President Reagan's vision of `peace through strength' brought the United States victory in the Cold War and freed millions of people from Soviet tyranny.

(18) President Reagan once summarized the mission of his administration as `Being free and prosperous in a world at peace. That's our ultimate goal.'.

(19) President Reagan reminded his countrymen of our calling in world history: `I don't believe the people I've met in almost every State of this Union are ready to consign this, the last island of freedom, to the dust bin of history, along with the bones of dead civilizations of the past. Call it mysticism, if you will, but I believe God had a divine purpose in placing this land between the two great oceans to be found by those who had a special love of freedom and the courage to leave the countries of their birth. From our forefathers to our modern-day immigrants, we've come from every corner of the earth, from every race and every ethnic background, and we've become a new breed in the world. We're Americans and we have a rendezvous with destiny.'.

SEC. 3. OBVERSE OF DIME COIN TO BEAR LIKENESS OF RONALD REAGAN.

Section 5112(d)(1) of title 31, United States Code, is amended by inserting after the 4th sentence the following new sentence: `Dime coins issued after such date as the Secretary determines to be appropriate shall bear the likeness of President Ronald Reagan, the Freedom President, in honor of his work in restoring American greatness and bringing freedom to captive nations around the world.'.

END