Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2081 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 2081
5	5	To award a Congressional Gold Medal to members of the Red Cross Supple-
6	6	mental Recreational Activities Overseas (SRAO) program, also known
7	7	as the ‘‘Donut Dollies’’, who served honorably during the Vietnam con-
8	8	flict.
9	9	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
10	10	MARCH11, 2025
11	11	Ms. S
12	12	HERRILL(for herself, Ms. HOULAHAN, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. CON-
13	13	NOLLY, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. CARSON, Ms. SALINAS, and Mr. HARRISof
14	14	Maryland) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
15	15	mittee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on House
16	16	Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speak-
17	17	er, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the ju-
18	18	risdiction of the committee concerned
19	19	A BILL
20	20	To award a Congressional Gold Medal to members of the
21	21	Red Cross Supplemental Recreational Activities Overseas
22	22	(SRAO) program, also known as the ‘‘Donut Dollies’’,
23	23	who served honorably during the Vietnam conflict.
24	24	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
25	25	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
26	26	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
27	27	This Act may be cited as ‘‘Donut Dollies Congres-4
28	28	sional Gold Medal Act’’. 5
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31	31	•HR 2081 IH
32	32	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1
33	33	The Congress finds the following: 2
34	34	(1) The Vietnam War, (1954–1975), a conflict 3
35	35	that pitted the communist Government of North 4
36	36	Vietnam and its allies in South Vietnam, known as 5
37	37	the Viet Cong, against the Government of South 6
38	38	Vietnam, involved thousands of U.S. servicemembers 7
39	39	and volunteers over its course. U.S. military advis-8
40	40	ers, present in small numbers throughout the 1950s, 9
41	41	were introduced on a large scale beginning in 1961, 10
42	42	and active combat units were introduced in 1965. As 11
43	43	early as February 1962, the number of American 12
44	44	military forces in Vietnam warranted the assignment 13
45	45	of American Red Cross field directors. 14
46	46	(2) Women were not subject to the Vietnam-era 15
47	47	draft, but thousands volunteered. The first American 16
48	48	Red Cross Field Directors were sent to South Viet-17
49	49	nam in February 1962. The last Red Cross staff 18
50	50	members to serve in-country departed in March 19
51	51	1973. Official records indicate that a total of 1,120 20
52	52	women served with the Red Cross in Vietnam during 21
53	53	that 11-year period. Of that number, 627 were 22
54	54	young women who were part of the organization’s 23
55	55	Supplemental Recreation Activities Overseas 24
56	56	(SRAO) program. 25
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59	59	•HR 2081 IH
60	60	(3) Based on Red Cross estimates, around 1
61	61	280,500 servicemen took part in these recreation 2
62	62	programs and the women, affectionately known as 3
63	63	‘‘Donut Dollies’’, traveled 27,000 miles by jeep, 4
64	64	truck, airplane, and helicopter every month. Red 5
65	65	Cross officials estimate that, during the seven years 6
66	66	the program was in operation, the women logged 7
67	67	over 2,125,000 miles. The first SRAO unit opened 8
68	68	at Danang in September 1965. Others quickly fol-9
69	69	lowed at Bien Hoa, Nha Trang, Cam Ranh Air 10
70	70	Force and Army bases, Dian, Quang Tri, Phu Bai, 11
71	71	Lai Khe, Dong Tam, Qui Nhon, Xuan Loc, and 12
72	72	more. In all, there were 28 SRAO unit locations 13
73	73	throughout the country. 14
74	74	(4) Military commanders expressed high praise 15
75	75	for the Red Cross volunteers, calling the services of 16
76	76	the organization ‘‘indispensable’’ and ‘‘prime fac-17
77	77	tors’’ in their efforts to maintain the high morale of 18
78	78	their men and to look after their welfare. Writing to 19
79	79	Red Cross national headquarters in 1968, General 20
80	80	William Westmoreland, then commander of the U.S. 21
81	81	forces in Southeast Asia, stated, ‘‘Serving our men 22
82	82	on the battlefields here in Vietnam, the American 23
83	83	Red Cross is a hotline to the folks back home, an 24
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86	86	•HR 2081 IH
87	87	oasis in the heat of battle, and a comfort during 1
88	88	hospitalization.’’. 2
89	89	(5) These Red Cross volunteers shared with 3
90	90	military personnel the hardship and privation of life 4
91	91	in a war zone and were subject to the dangers of 5
92	92	war. Many staff were injured. Five American Red 6
93	93	Cross workers died in-country. Three of those were 7
94	94	women, Hanna E. Crews, Virginia E. Kirsch, and 8
95	95	Lucinda J. Richter, all of whom were members of 9
96	96	the SRAO program. 10
97	97	(6) The Donut Dollies volunteered to be sent to 11
98	98	the frontlines to support servicemembers directly en-12
99	99	gaged with the enemy during the Vietnam conflict. 13
100	100	The extraordinary efforts of these volunteers 14
101	101	throughout the extent of America’s involvement in 15
102	102	the Vietnam conflict is deserving of official recogni-16
103	103	tion. 17
104	104	SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 18
105	105	(a) P
106	106	RESENTATIONAUTHORIZATION.—The Speaker 19
107	107	of the House of Representatives and the President pro 20
108	108	tempore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrange-21
109	109	ments for the presentation, on behalf of the Congress, of 22
110	110	a gold medal of appropriate design in commemoration to 23
111	111	members of the Red Cross Supplemental Recreational Ac-24
112	112	tivities Overseas (SRAO) program, also known as the 25
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115	115	•HR 2081 IH
116	116	‘‘Donut Dollies’’, who served honorably during the Viet-1
117	117	nam conflict. 2
118	118	(b) D
119	119	ESIGN ANDSTRIKING.—For the purposes of the 3
120	120	award referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the 4
121	121	Treasury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Sec-5
122	122	retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, 6
123	123	devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec-7
124	124	retary. 8
125	125	(c) S
126	126	MITHSONIANINSTITUTION.— 9
127	127	(1) I
128	128	N GENERAL.—Following the award of the 10
129	129	gold medal under subsection (a), the gold medal 11
130	130	shall be given to the Smithsonian Institution, where 12
131	131	it shall be available for display as appropriate and 13
132	132	made available for research. 14
133	133	(2) S
134	134	ENSE OF CONGRESS .—It is the sense of 15
135	135	Congress that the Smithsonian Institution should 16
136	136	make the gold medal received under paragraph (1) 17
137	137	available for display elsewhere, particularly at other 18
138	138	appropriate locations associated with the ‘‘Donut 19
139	139	Dollies’’. 20
140	140	(d) S
141	141	ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of the 21
142	142	Congress that the United States Mint should expedite pro-22
143	143	duction of the gold medal under this Act, so that the serv-23
144	144	ice and sacrifice of ‘‘Donut Dollies’’ volunteers can be rec-24
145	145	ognized and honored in a timely manner. 25
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148	148	•HR 2081 IH
149	149	SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 1
150	150	The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 2
151	151	bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3, at 3
152	152	a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, 4
153	153	materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses. 5
154	154	SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 6
155	155	(a) N
156	156	ATIONALMEDALS.—The medals struck pursu-7
157	157	ant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 8
158	158	51 of title 31, United States Code. 9
159	159	(b) N
160	160	UMISMATICITEMS.—For purposes of sections 10
161	161	5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 11
162	162	struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 12
163	163	items. 13
164	164	SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF 14
165	165	SALE. 15
166	166	(a) A
167	167	UTHORITYTOUSEFUNDAMOUNTS.—There is 16
168	168	authorized to be charged against the United States Mint 17
169	169	Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be nec-18
170	170	essary to pay for the costs of the medals struck under 19
171	171	this Act. 20
172	172	(b) P
173	173	ROCEEDS OFSALE.—Amounts received from the 21
174	174	sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 22
175	175	4 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public 23
176	176	Enterprise Fund. 24
177	177	Æ
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