I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 269
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Jens Stoltenberg, in recognition
of his contributions to the security, unity, and defense of the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY9, 2025
Mr. D
UNNof Florida (for himself, Mr. TURNERof Ohio, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr.
B
OYLEof Pennsylvania, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. MCCORMICK, Mr.
G
OTTHEIMER, Mr. GUTHRIE, Mr. LARSENof Washington, Ms. SA´NCHEZ,
Mr. N
ORCROSS, and Mr. LAWLER) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on Financial Services
A BILL
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Jens Stoltenberg,
in recognition of his contributions to the security, unity,
and defense of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Secretary General Jens 4
Stoltenberg Congressional Gold Medal Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
Congress finds the following: 7
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(1) Jens Stoltenberg served as the Prime Min-1
ister of Norway from 2000 to 2001 and 2005 to 2
2013. 3
(2) Norway was a founding member of the 4
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (referred to in 5
this Act as ‘‘NATO’’) on April 4, 1949. 6
(3) As Prime Minister of Norway, Jens 7
Stoltenberg oversaw Norway’s increased defense 8
spending levels and the modernization of the Nor-9
wegian Armed Forces. 10
(4) A primary objective of NATO is to provide 11
security and support to member nations and pro-12
mote democratic values to ensure stability and 13
peace. 14
(5) Jens Stoltenberg assumed the position of 15
Secretary General of NATO in October 2014. 16
(6) The United States was the first NATO 17
member to support Jens Stoltenberg’s appointment 18
as Secretary General. 19
(7) Jens Stoltenberg has led NATO through 20
significant new investments, reinforced its capabili-21
ties and enhanced the collective defense of the Alli-22
ance. 23
(8) Jens Stoltenberg has advocated for greater 24
burden sharing among members of the NATO Alli-25
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•HR 269 IH
ance, and under his leadership the Alliance will see 1
23 member countries reach or exceed the 2 percent 2
defense spending commitment by 2024, compared to 3
4 member countries in 2014. 4
(9) Jens Stoltenberg’s commitment to better 5
burden sharing has resulted in a stronger and more 6
sustainable Alliance than at any other time in 7
NATO history. 8
(10) Under Jens Stoltenberg’s leadership, 9
NATO has successfully undergone multiple enlarge-10
ment periods and has extended membership to Fin-11
land, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Sweden. 12
(11) In addition to bolstering the collective se-13
curity of the Alliance, NATO enlargement indicates 14
that an increasing number of countries are meeting 15
key benchmarks on the military, political and legal 16
requirements needed for NATO accession, enhancing 17
interoperability, defense expenditure and intelligence 18
sharing among member countries. 19
(12) Jens Stoltenberg has increased NATO’s 20
partnerships with Indo-Pacific countries to cooperate 21
more closely to address our shared global challenges 22
including cyber defense, emergency technologies, and 23
the multitude of challenges posed by the People’s 24
Republic of China. 25
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•HR 269 IH
(13) Jens Stoltenberg included Indo-Pacific 1
leaders at NATO summits and traveled to the region 2
which further cemented these important partner-3
ships. 4
(14) Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of 5
Ukraine in February 2022, Jens Stoltenberg has led 6
the Alliance in maintaining unprecedented unity 7
against Putin’s unprovoked, illegal actions. 8
(15) Since February 2022, NATO members 9
have supplied Ukraine with the equipment and re-10
sources it needs to defend its democracy and its sov-11
ereignty. 12
(16) Jens Stoltenberg successfully marshaled 13
political and financial support from Indo-Pacific 14
partners to support Ukraine, including contributions 15
of munitions and military equipment and sizeable fi-16
nancial contributions to NATO’s Comprehensive As-17
sistance Plan Action Trust Fund for Ukraine. 18
(17) Jens Stoltenberg’s mandate was extended 19
a total of 4 times with unanimous support by NATO 20
allies, with 2 extensions agreed to following Russia’s 21
unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. 22
(18) Jens Stoltenberg is the second longest- 23
serving Secretary General, serving over 9 years in 24
this position. 25
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(19) Jens Stoltenberg has re-committed that 1
the NATO Alliance will stand together against any 2
threat posed to a NATO member, ensuring contin-3
ued peace and stability within NATO territory and 4
around the world. 5
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 6
(a) A
WARDAUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of the 7
House of Representatives and the President pro tempore 8
of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements for the 9
award, on behalf of the Congress, of a single gold medal 10
of appropriate design to Jens Stoltenberg, in recognition 11
of his contributions to the security, unity, and defense of 12
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. 13
(b) D
ESIGN ANDSTRIKING.—For purposes of the 14
award referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the 15
Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall 16
strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and 17
inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary. The de-18
sign shall bear an inscription of the name of Jens 19
Stoltenberg. 20
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 21
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 22
bronze of the gold medal struck under section 3, at a price 23
sufficient to cover the costs of the medals, including labor, 24
materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses. 25
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SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 1
(a) N
ATIONALMEDALS.—Medals struck under this 2
Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 3
31, United States Code. 4
(b) N
UMISMATICITEMS.—For purposes of sections 5
5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 6
struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 7
items. 8
SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF 9
SALE. 10
(a) A
UTHORITYTOUSEFUNDAMOUNTS.—There is 11
authorized to be charged against the United States Mint 12
Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be nec-13
essary to pay for the costs of the medals struck under 14
this Act. 15
(b) P
ROCEEDS OFSALES.—Amounts received from 16
the sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under sec-17
tion 4 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Pub-18
lic Enterprise Fund. 19
Æ
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