Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2336 Compare Versions

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Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 2336
5	5	To award posthumously a Congressional Gold Medal to Doris Miller, in
6	6	recognition of his acts of valor while a member of the United States
7	7	Navy during World War II.
8	8	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
9	9	MARCH25, 2025
10	10	Mr. M
11	11	FUMEintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
12	12	on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on House Ad-
13	13	ministration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker,
14	14	in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris-
15	15	diction of the committee concerned
16	16	A BILL
17	17	To award posthumously a Congressional Gold Medal to Doris
18	18	Miller, in recognition of his acts of valor while a member
19	19	of the United States Navy during World War II.
20	20	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
21	21	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
22	22	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
23	23	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Doris Miller Congres-4
24	24	sional Gold Medal Act’’. 5
25	25	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
26	26	Congress finds the following: 7
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29	29	•HR 2336 IH
30	30	(1) Doris Miller, like other African-American 1
31	31	sailors of his day, was generally relegated to service- 2
32	32	based roles on ships, as the Navy did not allow sail-3
33	33	ors of color to enlist in combat roles. 4
34	34	(2) On December 7, 1941, Doris Miller was 5
35	35	serving aboard the USS West Virginia in Hawaii 6
36	36	when Japanese torpedo bombers attacked his ship 7
37	37	and others at the Pearl Harbor Naval Base—head-8
38	38	quarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. During this infa-9
39	39	mous attack, Doris Miller manned a gun magazine 10
40	40	amidships. When a torpedo damaged the magazine, 11
41	41	Doris Miller helped carry the wounded to safety, in-12
42	42	cluding his ship’s commander, Captain Mervyn S. 13
43	43	Bennion. Doris Miller then manned a .50 caliber 14
44	44	antiaircraft gun, for which he had no training, and 15
45	45	continued firing on the enemy until he ran out of 16
46	46	ammunition and received the order to abandon ship. 17
47	47	(3) Doris Miller was acknowledged in the USS 18
48	48	West Virginia Action Report, individually, along 19
49	49	with other brave personnel for having ‘‘carried out 20
50	50	every order promptly and enthusiastically, even when 21
51	51	it meant danger to themselves. They did not attempt 22
52	52	to abandon the bridge until ordered to do so.’’. 23
53	53	(4) Doris Miller aided other service members 24
54	54	and ‘‘was instrumental in hauling people along 25
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57	57	•HR 2336 IH
58	58	through oil and water to the quarterdeck, thereby 1
59	59	unquestionably saving the lives of a number of peo-2
60	60	ple who might otherwise have been lost.’’. 3
61	61	(5) On December 15, 1941, the Navy released 4
62	62	its commendations for actions in Pearl Harbor 5
63	63	which included one ‘‘unnamed Negro’’. It wasn’t 6
64	64	until March of 1942, at the behest of the NAACP, 7
65	65	that the Navy formally recognized Miller’s heroism. 8
66	66	(6) Doris Miller was recognized by the Navy 9
67	67	and awarded the Navy Cross Medal with the citation 10
68	68	reading ‘‘For distinguished devotion to duty, ex-11
69	69	traordinary courage and disregard for his own per-12
70	70	sonal safety during the attack on the Fleet in Pearl 13
71	71	Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, by Japanese forces on 14
72	72	December 7, 1941. While at the side of his Captain 15
73	73	on the bridge, Miller, despite enemy strafing and 16
74	74	bombing and in the face of a serious fire, assisted 17
75	75	in moving his Captain, who had been mortally 18
76	76	wounded, to a place of greater safety, and later 19
77	77	manned and operated a machine gun directed at 20
78	78	enemy Japanese attacking aircraft until ordered to 21
79	79	leave the bridge.’’. 22
80	80	(7) On May 27, 1942, Admiral Chester Nimitz 23
81	81	personally pinned the Navy Cross to Miller’s left 24
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84	84	•HR 2336 IH
85	85	breast pocket while on board the aircraft carrier 1
86	86	USS Enterprise. 2
87	87	(8) Doris Miller died in action on November 24, 3
88	88	1943, on board the USS Liscome Bay in the Pacific 4
89	89	Ocean after a single Japanese torpedo sank the ves-5
90	90	sel off the coast of Butaritari Island. 6
91	91	SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 7
92	92	(a) P
93	93	RESENTATIONAUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 8
94	94	the House of Representatives and the President pro tem-9
95	95	pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 10
96	96	for the posthumous presentation, on behalf of Congress, 11
97	97	of a gold medal of appropriate design in commemoration 12
98	98	of Doris Miller, in recognition of his acts of valor while 13
99	99	a member of the Navy during World War II. 14
100	100	(b) D
101	101	ESIGN ANDSTRIKING.—For the purposes of the 15
102	102	presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary 16
103	103	of the Treasury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the 17
104	104	‘‘Secretary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable em-18
105	105	blems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the 19
106	106	Secretary. 20
107	107	(c) S
108	108	MITHSONIANINSTITUTION.— 21
109	109	(1) I
110	110	N GENERAL.—Following the award of the 22
111	111	gold medal under subsection (a), the gold medal 23
112	112	shall be given to the Smithsonian Institution, where 24
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115	115	•HR 2336 IH
116	116	it shall be available for display as appropriate and 1
117	117	made available for research. 2
118	118	(2) S
119	119	ENSE OF CONGRESS .—It is the sense of 3
120	120	Congress that the Smithsonian Institution shall 4
121	121	make the gold medal received under paragraph (1) 5
122	122	available for display elsewhere, particularly at other 6
123	123	appropriate locations associated with Doris Miller. 7
124	124	SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 8
125	125	The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 9
126	126	bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3, at 10
127	127	a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, 11
128	128	materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses. 12
129	129	SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 13
130	130	(a) N
131	131	ATIONALMEDALS.—The medals struck pursu-14
132	132	ant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 15
133	133	51 of title 31, United States Code. 16
134	134	(b) N
135	135	UMISMATICITEMS.—For purposes of sections 17
136	136	5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 18
137	137	struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 19
138	138	items. 20
139	139	SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF 21
140	140	SALE. 22
141	141	(a) A
142	142	UTHORITYTOUSEFUNDAMOUNTS.—There is 23
143	143	authorized to be charged against the United States Mint 24
144	144	Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be nec-25
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147	147	•HR 2336 IH
148	148	essary to pay for the costs of the medals struck pursuant 1
149	149	to this Act. 2
150	150	(b) P
151	151	ROCEEDS OF SALE.—The amounts received 3
152	152	from the sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under 4
153	153	section 4 shall be deposited into the United States Mint 5
154	154	Public Enterprise Fund. 6
155	155	Æ
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