To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36th President of the United States whose visionary leadership secured passage of the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965, Social Security Amendments Act (Medicare) of 1965, Civil Rights Act of 1964, Higher Education Act of 1965, and Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965.

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 115 To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36th President of the United States whose visionary leadership secured pas- sage of the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965, Social Security Amend- ments Act (Medicare) of 1965, Civil Rights Act of 1964, Higher Edu- cation Act of 1965, and Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 4, 2021 Ms. JACKSON LEE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services A BILL To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36th President of the United States whose visionary leadership secured passage of the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965, Social Security Amendments Act (Medicare) of 1965, Civil Rights Act of 1964, Higher Education Act of 1965, and Immigration and Naturaliza- tion Act of 1965. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 3 The Congress finds the following: 4 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Jan 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H115.IH H115 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 115 IH (1) As a Member of Congress from the Tenth 1 Congressional District of Texas, as majority leader 2 of the U.S. Senate, Vice President and President of 3 the United States, Lyndon Baines Johnson’s accom- 4 plishments in the fields of civil rights, education, 5 and economic opportunity rank among the greatest 6 achievements of the past half century. 7 (2) As President, Lyndon Johnson proposed, 8 championed, led to passage, and signed into law on 9 August 6, 1965, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, 10 which swept away barriers impeding millions of 11 Americans from meaningful participation in Amer- 12 ican political life. 13 (3) On July 30, 1965, President Johnson 14 signed into law the Social Security Amendments Act 15 of 1965, popularly known as Medicare, which has 16 transformed the delivery of health care in the United 17 States and which, along with Social Security, re- 18 duced the rate of poverty among the elderly from 19 28.5 percent in 1966 to 9.1 percent in 2012. 20 (4) On July 2, 1964, President Johnson se- 21 cured passage and signed into law the most sweep- 22 ing civil rights legislation since Reconstruction, the 23 Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimina- 24 tion in employment, education, and public accom- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Jan 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H115.IH H115 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 115 IH modations based on race, color, religion, or national 1 origin. 2 (5) On November 8, 1965, President Johnson 3 signed into law the Higher Education Act, which 4 provided need-based financial aid to students in the 5 form of scholarships, work-study grants, and loans, 6 and thus made higher education more accessible to 7 populations of persons who were previously unable to 8 attend college because of economic circumstances. 9 (6) On October 3, 1965, President Johnson 10 signed into law the Immigration and Naturalization 11 Act of 1965, which transformed the Nation’s immi- 12 gration system by abolishing the racially based quota 13 system that had defined American immigration pol- 14 icy for four decades and replaced it with a policy 15 whose central purpose was family reunification, with 16 a preference for immigrants with specific skill sets. 17 (7) According to Robert A. Caro, the pre- 18 eminent biographer of Lyndon Baines Johnson, with 19 the single exception of Lincoln, President Johnson 20 was the greatest champion of the poor and under- 21 privileged in the history of the Republic and was the 22 President ‘‘who wrote mercy and justice into the 23 statute books by which America was governed’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Jan 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H115.IH H115 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 115 IH SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 1 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 2 the House of Representatives and the President pro tem- 3 pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 4 for the posthumous award, on behalf of Congress, of a 5 gold medal of appropriate design to Lyndon Baines John- 6 son in recognition of his contributions to the Nation, in- 7 cluding passage of the landmark Voting Rights Act of 8 1965, the Social Security Amendments Act (Medicare) of 9 1965, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Higher Education 10 Act of 1965, and the Immigration and Naturalization Act 11 of 1965. 12 (b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For purposes of the 13 presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary 14 of the Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Sec- 15 retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, 16 devices, and inscriptions to be determined by the Sec- 17 retary. 18 (c) LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON LIBRARY AND MU- 19 SEUM.— 20 (1) IN GENERAL.—Following the award of the 21 gold medal under subsection (a), the gold medal 22 shall be given to the Lyndon Baines Johnson Li- 23 brary and Museum, where it will be available for dis- 24 play as appropriate and available for research. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Jan 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H115.IH H115 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 115 IH (2) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 1 the Congress that the Lyndon Baines Johnson Li- 2 brary and Museum should make the gold medal 3 awarded pursuant to this Act available for display 4 elsewhere, particularly at appropriate locations asso- 5 ciated with Lyndon Baines Johnson. 6 SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 7 The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 8 bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 2 9 under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at 10 a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, 11 materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses, 12 and the cost of the gold medal. 13 SEC. 4. STATUS OF MEDALS. 14 (a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—The medals struck pursu- 15 ant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 16 51 of title 31, United States Code. 17 (b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of sections 18 5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 19 struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 20 items. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Jan 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H115.IH H115 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS