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[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1565 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1565

   To provide for the issuance of a semipostal in order to afford a 
convenient means by which members of the public may contribute towards 
   the acquisition of works of art to honor female pioneers in U.S. 
                 Government service and American life.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 17, 2009

  Ms. Kaptur introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and in addition to the 
  Committee on House Administration, for a period to be subsequently 
   determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
   To provide for the issuance of a semipostal in order to afford a 
convenient means by which members of the public may contribute towards 
   the acquisition of works of art to honor female pioneers in U.S. 
                 Government service and American life.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Honoring Female Congressional 
Pioneers Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The 75 women currently serving in the House of 
        Representatives owe a debt of gratitude to all of their 
        foremothers who broke down barriers, both in their election to, 
        and in the important legislative work they accomplished as 
        Members of, the House of Representatives.
            (2) 5 women in particular stand out for their status as the 
        ``first'' women in certain categories.
            (3) In 1916, Jeannette Rankin broke new ground by becoming 
        the first woman elected to the House of Representatives, 
        representing the State of Montana, first from 1917 to 1919 and 
        later from 1941 to 1943.
            (4) Jeannette Rankin's first election was all the more 
        remarkable, considering that it came 3 years before women's 
        suffrage was a legally guaranteed right throughout the United 
        States.
            (5) Jeannette Rankin directly contributed to a woman's 
        right to vote when she introduced a resolution in 1919 to 
        support a women's suffrage amendment to the Constitution of the 
        United States.
            (6) Jeannette Rankin remained dedicated to a peaceful 
        world, both by voting against the declarations of World War I 
        and World War II (and in fact was the only Representative to 
        vote against the declaration of World War II) and by working 
        tirelessly to promote peace during her years outside of 
        Congress.
            (7) In 1924, Mary Teresa Norton became the first Democratic 
        woman elected to the House of Representatives, and one of a 
        small number of women during that period who were elected in 
        their own right and not to replace their husbands, representing 
        New Jersey's 12th Congressional District from 1925 to 1951.
            (8) Mary Norton served as the chair of the Committee on the 
        District of Columbia from 1931 to 1937, effectively governing 
        the city, which had no municipal government of its own at that 
        time.
            (9) In 1934, Mary Norton became the first woman to chair a 
        major political party in a State, as head of the New Jersey 
        State Committee.
            (10) Mary Norton was instrumental in the drafting and 
        passage in 1938 of a major piece of President Franklin D. 
        Roosevelt's New Deal, the Fair Labor Standards Act, which 
        established a minimum wage, a maximum workweek, overtime pay, 
        and a prohibition on child labor.
            (11) In 1964, Patsy Takemoto Mink became the first Asian-
        American woman elected to the House of Representatives, 
        representing Hawaii's 2nd Congressional District from 1965 to 
        1977 and again from 1991 until her death in 2002.
            (12) Patsy Mink secured an assignment to the Committee on 
        Education and Labor, for which her previous expertise and 
        interests made her well suited, and used her time on that 
        Committee to introduce the first child care bill, as well as 
        bills to provide for bilingual education, student loans, 
        special education, and the Head Start program.
            (13) Patsy Mink gained passage in 1965 of legislation to 
        support the construction of schools in the Trust Territory of 
        the Pacific Islands.
            (14) Patsy Mink established the Democratic Women's Caucus 
        in 1995 and served as its first chair.
            (15) In 1968, Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm made history 
        by becoming the first African-American woman elected to the 
        House of Representatives, representing New York's 12th 
        Congressional District until her retirement in 1983.
            (16) Shirley Chisholm was a founding member of the 
        Congressional Black Caucus, a fierce advocate for women's 
        rights and democracy, and a staunch opponent of the Vietnam 
        War.
            (17) Shirley Chisholm was an outspoken advocate for equal 
        rights, early childhood education, fair labor standards, and 
        the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday effort.
            (18) Shirley Chisholm further cemented her place in history 
        when she became the first African-American person to seek a 
        major political party's nomination for President in 1972.
            (19) In 1920, Edith Nourse Rogers became the first 
        congresswoman from New England and, when she died in 1960 after 
        35 years of service to Massachusetts, became the longest-
        serving Congresswoman.
            (20) In 1929, Edith Rogers became the first woman to gavel 
        the House of Representatives to order.
            (21) Edith Rogers became the first woman in Congress to 
        have her name attached to a bill, which bill eventually 
        achieved enactment in 1938 and established the National Cancer 
        Institute.
            (22) There is a genuine need to honor these women, and 
        others like them, more often in our Nation's artistic and 
        cultural venues.

SEC. 3. SPECIAL POSTAGE STAMP.

    In order to afford the public a convenient means by which to 
contribute towards the acquisition (for public display in the United 
States Capitol and other appropriate venues) of works of art honoring 
Jeannette Rankin, Mary Teresa Norton, Patsy Takemoto Mink, Shirley 
Anita St. Hill Chisholm, Edith Nourse Rogers, and other female pioneers 
in U.S. Government service and to American life, the United States 
Postal Service shall provide for the issuance and sale of a semipostal 
in accordance with section 416 of title 39, United States Code, subject 
to the following:
            (1) Disposition of amounts received.--All amounts becoming 
        available from the sale of the semipostal shall be transferred 
        by the Postal Service to the Capitol Preservation Commission 
        and the House Fine Arts Board (which is hereby authorized to 
        accept any such amounts) under such arrangements as the Postal 
        Service and those entities shall by mutual agreement establish 
        in order to carry out the purposes of this Act.
            (2) No effect on authority to issue other stamps.--No 
        semipostal issued pursuant to this Act shall be taken into 
        account for purposes of applying any numerical limitation 
        established under section 416(e)(1)(C) of such title 39.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    For purposes of this Act--
            (1) the term ``semipostal'' has the meaning given such term 
        by section 416(a)(1) of title 39, United States Code;
            (2) any determination of the ``amounts becoming available'' 
        from the sale of the semipostal described in section 3 shall be 
        made in accordance with section 416(d) of title 39, United 
        States Code;
            (3) the term ``Capitol Preservation Commission'' means the 
        United States Capitol Preservation Commission, established by 
        section 801 of Public Law 100-696 (2 U.S.C. 2081); and
            (4) the term ``House Fine Arts Board'' means the House of 
        Representatives Fine Arts Board, established by section 1001 of 
        Public Law 100-696 (2 U.S.C. 2121).
                                 <all>
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