Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB645 Compare Versions

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

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 645
5	5	To award a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the individuals and
6	6	communities who volunteered or donated items to the North Platte Can-
7	7	teen in North Platte, Nebraska, during World War II from December
8	8	25, 1941, to April 1, 1946.
9	9	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
10	10	FEBRUARY20, 2025
11	11	Mrs. F
12	12	ISCHER(for herself and Mr. RICKETTS) introduced the following bill;
13	13	which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Hous-
14	14	ing, and Urban Affairs
15	15	A BILL
16	16	To award a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the
17	17	individuals and communities who volunteered or donated
18	18	items to the North Platte Canteen in North Platte, Ne-
19	19	braska, during World War II from December 25, 1941,
20	20	to April 1, 1946.
21	21	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
22	22	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
23	23	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
24	24	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘North Platte Canteen 4
25	25	Congressional Gold Medal Act’’. 5
26	26	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
27	27	The Congress finds the following: 7
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31	31	(1) Home-front volunteerism was integral to the 1
32	32	victory of the United States during World War II. 2
33	33	Numerous exemplars of patriotism emerged through-3
34	34	out the Midwest, galvanizing the rural United States 4
35	35	and the rest of the country supporting the war ef-5
36	36	fort. 6
37	37	(2) The North Platte Canteen in North Platte, 7
38	38	Nebraska, was one of the largest volunteer efforts of 8
39	39	World War II. 9
40	40	(3) Canteen services boosted morale in the 10
41	41	United States by providing free, wholesome enter-11
42	42	tainment to troops traveling across the country. Ap-12
43	43	proximately 120 community-based canteens operated 13
44	44	in the United States during World War II. 14
45	45	(4) The North Platte Canteen greeted and 15
46	46	served food to approximately 6,000,000 United 16
47	47	States troops traveling across the United States 17
48	48	from December 25, 1941, to April 1, 1946. 18
49	49	(5) On December 17, 1941, the residents of 19
50	50	North Platte, Nebraska, received information that a 20
51	51	train of Nebraska National Guardsmen would be 21
52	52	traveling through North Platte en route to the West 22
53	53	Coast of the United States. Although the train car-23
54	54	ried members of the Kansas National Guard, resi-24
55	55	dents of the community welcomed the men from 25
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59	59	Kansas with food and other items as an appreciation 1
60	60	for their service. 2
61	61	(6) On December 18, 1941, Rae Wilson, of 3
62	62	North Platte, proposed to her community the idea of 4
63	63	establishing the North Platte Canteen so that resi-5
64	64	dents could greet United States troops en route to 6
65	65	serving the United States in the European Theater 7
66	66	or the Pacific Theater. 8
67	67	(7) 55,000 individuals, the majority of whom 9
68	68	were women, from 125 communities in Nebraska, 10
69	69	Colorado, and Kansas donated food and volunteered 11
70	70	at the North Platte Canteen for approximately 5 12
71	71	years. 13
72	72	(8) The North Platte Canteen provided hospi-14
73	73	tality to as many as 24 troop trains per day. During 15
74	74	a 1-month period, the volunteers at the Canteen 16
75	75	served over 40,000 homemade cookies, 30,000 hard- 17
76	76	boiled eggs, 6,500 doughnuts, 4,000 loaves of bread, 18
77	77	3,000 pounds of meat, 450 pounds of cheese, 60 19
78	78	quarts of peanut butter, 1,350 pounds of coffee, 20
79	79	1,000 quarts of cream, 750 dozen rolls, and 600 21
80	80	birthday cakes. 22
81	81	(9) The North Platte Canteen principally oper-23
82	82	ated at the Union Pacific Railroad station in North 24
83	83	Platte, Nebraska, with volunteers from local commu-25
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87	87	nities, organizations, churches, schools, and other 1
88	88	groups, and without Federal assistance. 2
89	89	(10) $137,000 in cash contributions supported 3
90	90	the operations of the North Platte Canteen for al-4
91	91	most 5 years. The funds were raised through benefit 5
92	92	dances, scrap-metal drives, school victory clubs, do-6
93	93	nation cans in local businesses, and from the rel-7
94	94	atives of troops who traveled through the North 8
95	95	Platte area. 9
96	96	(11) In December 1943, the North Platte Can-10
97	97	teen was honored by the United States Army with 11
98	98	the presentation of the Meritorious Wartime Service 12
99	99	Award by the Secretary of War. 13
100	100	(12) In 2004, the 108th Congress passed a res-14
101	101	olution recognizing the heroic efforts of those who 15
102	102	made enormous sacrifices to make the North Platte 16
103	103	Canteen a success during World War II. 17
104	104	SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 18
105	105	(a) P
106	106	RESENTATIONAUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 19
107	107	the House of Representatives and the President pro tem-20
108	108	pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 21
109	109	for the presentation, on behalf of Congress, of a gold 22
110	110	medal of appropriate design to the individuals and commu-23
111	111	nities who volunteered or donated items to the North 24
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115	115	Platte Canteen in North Platte, Nebraska, during World 1
116	116	War II. 2
117	117	(b) D
118	118	ESIGN ANDSTRIKING.—For purposes of the 3
119	119	presentation described in subsection (a), the Secretary of 4
120	120	the Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’) 5
121	121	shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, 6
122	122	and inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary. 7
123	123	(c) L
124	124	INCOLNCOUNTYHISTORICALMUSEUM.—Fol-8
125	125	lowing the presentation described in subsection (a), the 9
126	126	gold medal shall be given to the Lincoln County Historical 10
127	127	Museum in North Platte, Nebraska, where the medal shall 11
128	128	be available for display as appropriate and made available 12
129	129	for research. 13
130	130	SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 14
131	131	The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 15
132	132	bronze of the gold medal struck under section 3, at a price 16
133	133	sufficient to cover the costs of the medals, including labor, 17
134	134	materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses. 18
135	135	SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 19
136	136	(a) N
137	137	ATIONALMEDALS.—Medals struck under this 20
138	138	Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 21
139	139	31, United States Code. 22
140	140	(b) N
141	141	UMISMATICITEMS.—For purposes of sections 23
142	142	5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 24
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146	146	struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 1
147	147	items. 2
148	148	SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF 3
149	149	SALE. 4
150	150	(a) A
151	151	UTHORITYTOUSEFUNDAMOUNTS.—There is 5
152	152	authorized to be charged against the United States Mint 6
153	153	Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be nec-7
154	154	essary to pay for the costs of the medals struck under 8
155	155	this Act. 9
156	156	(b) P
157	157	ROCEEDS OFSALE.—Amounts received from the 10
158	158	sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 11
159	159	4 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public 12
160	160	Enterprise Fund. 13
161	161	Æ
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