I 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Honoring Female Con5 gressional Pioneers Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) The 75 women currently serving in the 

4 House of Representatives owe a debt of gratitude to 

5 all of their foremothers who broke down barriers, 

6 both in their election to, and in the important legis7 lative work they accomplished as Members of, the 

8 House of Representatives. 

9 (2) 5 women in particular stand out for their 

10 status as the ‘‘first’’ women in certain categories. 

11 (3) In 1916, Jeannette Rankin broke new 

12 ground by becoming the first woman elected to the 

13 House of Representatives, representing the State of 

14 Montana, first from 1917 to 1919 and later from 

15 1941 to 1943. 

16 (4) Jeannette Rankin’s first election was all the 

17 more remarkable, considering that it came 3 years 

18 before women’s suffrage was a legally guaranteed 

19 right throughout the United States. 

20 (5) Jeannette Rankin directly contributed to a 

21 woman’s right to vote when she introduced a resolu22 tion in 1919 to support a women’s suffrage amend23 ment to the Constitution of the United States. 

24 (6) Jeannette Rankin remained dedicated to a 

25 peaceful world, both by voting against the declara26 tions of World War I and World War II (and in fact 


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1 was the only Representative to vote against the dec2 laration of World War II) and by working tirelessly 

3 to promote peace during her years outside of Con4 gress. 

5 (7) In 1924, Mary Teresa Norton became the 

6 first Democratic woman elected to the House of 

7 Representatives, and one of a small number of 

8 women during that period who were elected in their 

9 own right and not to replace their husbands, rep10 resenting New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District 

11 from 1925 to 1951. 

12 (8) Mary Norton served as the chair of the 

13 Committee on the District of Columbia from 1931 to 

14 1937, effectively governing the city, which had no 

15 municipal government of its own at that time. 

16 (9) In 1934, Mary Norton became the first 

17 woman to chair a major political party in a State, 

18 as head of the New Jersey State Committee. 

19 (10) Mary Norton was instrumental in the 

20 drafting and passage in 1938 of a major piece of 

21 President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, the 

22 Fair Labor Standards Act, which established a min23 imum wage, a maximum workweek, overtime pay, 

24 and a prohibition on child labor. 


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1 (11) In 1964, Patsy Takemoto Mink became 

2 the first Asian-American woman elected to the 

3 House of Representatives, representing Hawaii’s 2nd 

4 Congressional District from 1965 to 1977 and again 

5 from 1991 until her death in 2002. 

6 (12) Patsy Mink secured an assignment to the 

7 Committee on Education and Labor, for which her 

8 previous expertise and interests made her well suit9 ed, and used her time on that Committee to intro10 duce the first child care bill, as well as bills to pro11 vide for bilingual education, student loans, special 

12 education, and the Head Start program. 

13 (13) Patsy Mink gained passage in 1965 of leg14 islation to support the construction of schools in the 

15 Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. 

16 (14) Patsy Mink established the Democratic 

17 Women’s Caucus in 1995 and served as its first 

18 chair. 

19 (15) In 1968, Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm 

20 made history by becoming the first African-Amer21 ican woman elected to the House of Representatives, 

22 representing New York’s 12th Congressional District 

23 until her retirement in 1983. 

24 (16) Shirley Chisholm was a founding member 

25 of the Congressional Black Caucus, a fierce advocate 


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1 for women’s rights and democracy, and a staunch 

2 opponent of the Vietnam War. 

3 (17) Shirley Chisholm was an outspoken advo4 cate for equal rights, early childhood education, fair 

5 labor standards, and the Martin Luther King, Jr. 

6 holiday effort. 

7 (18) Shirley Chisholm further cemented her 

8 place in history when she became the first African9 American person to seek a major political party’s 

10 nomination for President in 1972. 

11 (19) In 1920, Edith Nourse Rogers became the 

12 first congresswoman from New England and, when 

13 she died in 1960 after 35 years of service to Massa14 chusetts, became the longest-serving Congress15 woman. 

16 (20) In 1929, Edith Rogers became the first 

17 woman to gavel the House of Representatives to 

18 order. 

19 (21) Edith Rogers became the first woman in 

20 Congress to have her name attached to a bill, which 

21 bill eventually achieved enactment in 1938 and es22 tablished the National Cancer Institute. 

23 (22) There is a genuine need to honor these 

24 women, and others like them, more often in our Na25 tion’s artistic and cultural venues. 


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1 SEC. 3. SPECIAL POSTAGE STAMP. 

2 In order to afford the public a convenient means by 

3 which to contribute towards the acquisition (for public dis4 play in the United States Capitol and other appropriate 

5 venues) of works of art honoring Jeannette Rankin, Mary 

6 Teresa Norton, Patsy Takemoto Mink, Shirley Anita St. 

7 Hill Chisholm, Edith Nourse Rogers, and other female 

8 pioneers in U.S. Government service and to American life, 

9 the United States Postal Service shall provide for the 

10 issuance and sale of a semipostal in accordance with sec11 tion 416 of title 39, United States Code, subject to the 

12 following: 

13 (1) DISPOSITION OF AMOUNTS RECEIVED.—All 

14 amounts becoming available from the sale of the 

15 semipostal shall be transferred by the Postal Service 

16 to the Capitol Preservation Commission and the 

17 House Fine Arts Board (which is hereby authorized 

18 to accept any such amounts) under such arrange19 ments as the Postal Service and those entities shall 

20 by mutual agreement establish in order to carry out 

21 the purposes of this Act. 

22 (2) NO EFFECT ON AUTHORITY TO ISSUE

23 OTHER STAMPS.—No semipostal issued pursuant to 

24 this Act shall be taken into account for purposes of 

25 applying any numerical limitation established under 

26 section 416(e)(1)(C) of such title 39. 


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1 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

2 For purposes of this Act— 

3 (1) the term ‘‘semipostal’’ has the meaning 

4 given such term by section 416(a)(1) of title 39, 

5 United States Code; 

6 (2) any determination of the ‘‘amounts becom7 ing available’’ from the sale of the semipostal de8 scribed in section 3 shall be made in accordance with 

9 section 416(d) of title 39, United States Code; 

10 (3) the term ‘‘Capitol Preservation Commis11 sion’’ means the United States Capitol Preservation 

12 Commission, established by section 801 of Public 

13 Law 100–696 (2 U.S.C. 2081); and 

14 (4) the term ‘‘House Fine Arts Board’’ means 

15 the House of Representatives Fine Arts Board, es16 tablished by section 1001 of Public Law 100–696 (2 

17 U.S.C. 2121). 

Æ 


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