[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 608 Introduced in House (IH)]
114th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 608
To authorize the President to award a gold medal on behalf of Congress
to Muhammad Ali in recognition of his contributions to the Nation.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 28, 2015
Mr. Carson of Indiana introduced the following bill; which was referred
to the Committee on Financial Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To authorize the President to award a gold medal on behalf of Congress
to Muhammad Ali in recognition of his contributions to the Nation.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., on January 17, 1942,
in Louisville, Kentucky, Muhammad Ali was the first child of
Cassius, Sr., and Odessa Clay.
(2) Muhammad Ali is one of the most celebrated athletes of
the 20th century. He has produced some of America's greatest
sports memories, from winning a gold medal at the 1960 Summer
Olympics to lighting the Olympic torch at the 1996 Summer
Olympics.
(3) After an impressive amateur career, during which he
recorded 131 wins and only 7 losses and won 2 National AAU
light heavyweight titles, Muhammad Ali became the first
professional boxer in history to capture the heavyweight title
3 separate times.
(4) Muhammad Ali defeated every challenger he faced in the
ring. But, on April 28, 1967, he was stripped of his boxing
title and barred from competing for being a conscientious
objector to the war in Vietnam on religious and moral grounds.
However, following a unanimous United States Supreme Court
decision in 1971, Muhammad Ali's conscientious objector status
was confirmed, his boxing license was reinstated, and he was
cleared of any wrongdoing.
(5) As an African-American and a Muslim living in an era
that continued to question his civil rights, Muhammad Ali
battled issues of race and religion, and has received
recognition as one of the champions of the Civil Rights
Movement in the United States.
(6) Muhammad Ali is the recipient of many awards for his
sporting prowess and his support of racial harmony, including
the Dr. Martin Luther King Memorial Award, the Spirit of
America Award, the Amnesty International Lifetime Achievement
Award, the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage, the Essence Living
Legend Award, the Rainbow Coalition Lifetime Achievement Award,
the XNBA Human Spirit Award, the Presidential Citizens Medal,
and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
(7) Muhammad Ali has been acknowledged by many
organizations for his achievements both inside and outside the
boxing ring, including being crowned ``Sportsman of the
Century'' by Sports Illustrated, being named ``Athlete of the
Century'' by GQ magazine, being named ``Sports Personality of
the Century'' by the British Broadcasting Corporation, being
named ``Kentucky Athlete of the Century'' by the Kentucky
Athletic Hall of Fame, being named ``Kentuckian of the
Century'' by the State of Kentucky, being named ``Louisvillian
of the Century'' by the Advertising Club of Louisville, being
named ``Boxer of the Century'' by the World Sports Awards of
the Century, being recognized by the International Boxing Hall
of Fame, and receiving honorary doctorate degrees from
Muhlenberg College and Western Kentucky University, as well as
an honorary doctorate of humanities at Princeton University's
260th graduation ceremony.
(8) Muhammad Ali received the prestigious ``Otto Hahn Peace
Medal in Gold'' from the United Nations Association of Germany
for his work with the United Nations and the Civil Rights
Movement in the United States.
(9) Muhammad Ali was selected by the California
Bicentennial Foundation for the U.S. Constitution to personify
the vitality of the Bill of Rights in various high-profile
activities.
(10) Despite having been diagnosed with Parkinson's
Syndrome in the early 1980s, Muhammad Ali has dedicated his
life to the cause of universal human rights and freedom. His
commitment to equal justice and peace has touched the lives of
hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.
(11) President Jimmy Carter asked Muhammad Ali to meet with
African leaders in Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, Liberia, and
Senegal as part of President Carter's diplomatic efforts on
behalf of human rights in the 1980s.
(12) In 1990, Muhammad Ali traveled to the Middle East to
seek the release of American and British hostages that were
being held as human shields in the first Gulf War. As a result
of his intervention, 15 United States hostages were freed on
December 2nd of that year.
(13) In 1998, Muhammad Ali was chosen as the ``U.N.
Messenger of Peace''.
(14) Several Presidents of the United States have
recognized Muhammad Ali, including President George W. Bush
who, on November 17, 2002, called him ``a man of peace'' and
stated that ``across the world, billions of people know
Muhammad Ali as a brave, compassionate, and charming man, and
the American people are proud to call Muhammad Ali one of our
own,'' President Bill Clinton who stated that Muhammad Ali
``captured the world's imagination and its heart. Outside the
ring, Muhammad Ali has dedicated his life to working for
children, feeding the hungry, supporting his faith, and
standing up for racial equality. He has always fought for a
just and more humane world, breaking down barriers here in
America and around the world. There are no telling how many
tens of millions of people had their hearts swell with pride
and their eyes swell with tears in 1996 when Muhammad Ali lit
the Olympic torch, because we know, now and forever, he is the
greatest,'' President Jimmy Carter who cited Muhammad Ali as
``Mr. International Friendship,'' and President Barack Obama
who, as a Senator, had a framed picture of Muhammad Ali hanging
in his office, and before announcing his intentions to run for
President, Obama visited with Muhammad Ali at the Ali Center in
Louisville, Kentucky.
(15) Muhammad Ali continues to encourage humanity through
his perseverance and the support of thousands of people. He has
helped such organizations as the Chicago-based adoption agency,
The Cradle; the Make-A-Wish Foundation; the Special Olympics'
organization, Best Buddies; and Herbert E. Birch Services, an
organization that runs a school for handicapped children and
young adults, in addition to a summer camp for children
infected with AIDS.
(16) Muhammad Ali and his wife Lonnie are founding
directors of the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center in Phoenix,
Arizona, and have helped raise over $50 million for Parkinson's
research. The Center's mission is to provide excellence in
treatment, research, and education for patients and families
affected by Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders,
regardless of ability to pay.
(17) Muhammad Ali is an inspiration to countless
individuals with Parkinson's disease, including members of the
Rock Steady Boxing Foundation in Indianapolis, Indiana, which
was founded to give people with Parkinson's disease hope by
improving their quality of life using boxing for fitness.
(18) Muhammad Ali is one of the founding members of
Athletes for Hope, an organization created by a few very
successful athletes of exemplary character who have a deep
commitment to charitable and community causes.
(19) Muhammad Ali also established the Muhammad Ali Center
in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, which promotes
respect, hope, and understanding, and inspires people
everywhere to be as great as they can be. A visitor of the
Muhammad Ali Center experiences the ``hows'' of Ali's life: how
he found the courage, the dedication, and the discipline to
become who he is today; how he found the conviction to stand up
for what he believed; and how he turned his passion for
excellence in the ring to a passion for peace on the world
stage.
(20) Like Muhammad Ali himself, the Muhammad Ali Center
focuses on what brings individuals together, not what sets them
apart, and is a ``global gathering place'' to which people can
come, both online and in person, to learn, share, and celebrate
our commonalities as human beings and to formulate ways of
advancing humanity.
(21) Muhammad Ali has helped to provide more than
22,000,000 aid packets to assist people in need, and until
recently traveled, on average, more than 200 days per year for
humanitarian causes.
(22) Muhammad Ali, known simply as ``the greatest,'' has
transcended the glamour and glory of being a sports champion to
become not only one of the greatest sports figures, but one of
the greatest role models of our time.
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.
(a) Presentation Authorized.--The Speaker of the House of
Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate shall make
appropriate arrangements for the presentation, on behalf of Congress,
of a gold medal of appropriate design, to Muhammad Ali in recognition
of his contributions to the Nation.
(b) Design and Striking.--For the purpose of the presentation
referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury
(hereinafter in this Act referred to as the ``Secretary'') shall strike
a gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions to be
determined by the Secretary.
SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS.
Under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, the
Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold medal
struck pursuant to section 2 at a price sufficient to cover the cost of
the bronze medals (including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery,
and overhead expenses) and the cost of the gold medal.
SEC. 4. NATIONAL MEDALS.
The medals struck under this Act are national medals for purposes
of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.
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