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107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1434

To authorize the President to award posthumously the Congressional Gold

Medal to the passengers and crew of United Airlines flight 93 in the

aftermath of the terrorist attack on the United States on September

11, 2001.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

SEPTEMBER 19, 2001

Mr. SPECTER (for himself, Mr. BOND, Mr. BUNNING, Mrs. BOXER, Mr.

BURNS, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. CHAFEE, Mrs. CLINTON, Mr. ENSIGN, Mr.

HARKIN, Mr. HELMS, Mr. KOHL, Ms. LANDRIEU, Mr. NELSON of Florida, Mr. SCHUMER, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. DORGAN, Mr. MILLER, Mr. DAYTON, Mr. NELSON of Nebraska, Mr. CORZINE, Mr.

MCCAIN, Mr. WELLSTONE, Ms. SNOWE, Mrs. CARNAHAN, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, and Mr. CONRAD) introduced the following bill; which was read

twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban

Affairs

A BILL

To authorize the President to award posthumously the Congressional Gold Medal to the passengers and crew of

United Airlines flight 93 in the aftermath of the terrorist

attack on the United States on September 11, 2001.

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

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Honoring the Pas3 sengers and Crew of United Flight 93 Act’’.

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

5 Congress finds that—

6 (1) on September 11, 2001, United Airlines

7 Flight 93 took off at 8:44 a.m. from Newark, New

8 Jersey, destined for San Francisco, California;

9 (2) the plane was hijacked by 4 terrorists short10 ly after it took off;

11 (3) it is widely presumed that the terrorists who

12 took control of United Airlines Flight 93 intended to

13 use the aircraft as a weapon and crash it into the

14 United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.;

15 (4) the passengers and crew of United Airlines

16 Flight 93 learned from cellular phone conversations

17 with their loved ones of the fate of the 3 other air18 craft that were hijacked earlier that same day and

19 used as weapons to murder thousands of innocent

20 people and destroy American landmarks;

21 (5) the passengers and crew of United Airlines

22 Flight 93, recognizing the potential danger that the

23 aircraft they were aboard posed to large numbers of

24 innocent Americans, American institutions, and the

25 symbols of American democracy, took heroic and
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1 noble action to ensure that the aircraft they were

2 aboard could not be used as a weapon;

3 (6) the 40 passengers and crew of United Air4 lines Flight 93, in the ultimate act of selfless cour5 age and supreme sacrifice, fought to recapture their

6 flight from the terrorists; and

7 (7) the struggle of the crew and passengers of

8 United Airlines Flight 93 against the terrorists

9 caused the Boeing 757 to crash down in a sparsely

10 populated area near Shanksville, Pennsylvania at

11 10:10 a.m., September 11, 2001, possibly saving

12 countless lives in the Nation’s Capital.

13 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.

14 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The President is authorized,

16 on behalf of Congress, to award posthumously a gold

17 medal of appropriate design to each of—

18 (A) the United Airlines Flight 93 crew

19 members—

20 (i) Lorraine G. Bay;

21 (ii) Sandra W. Bradshaw;

22 (iii) Jason Dahl;

23 (iv) Wanda A. Green;

24 (v) LeRoy Homer;

25 (vi) CeeCee Lyles; and
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1 (vii) Deborah A. Welsh; and

2 (B) the United Airlines Flight 93

3 passengers—

4 (i) Christian Adams;

5 (ii) Todd Beamer;

6 (iii) Alan Beaven;

7 (iv) Mark Bingham;

8 (v) Deora Bodley;

9 (vi) Marion Britton;

10 (vii) Thomas E. Burnett, Jr.;

11 (viii) William Cashman;

12 (ix) Georgine Rose Corrigan;

13 (x) Joseph Deluca;

14 (xi) Patrick Driscoll;

15 (xii) Edward Felt;

16 (xiii) Colleen Fraser;

17 (xiv) Andrew Garcia;

18 (xv) Jeremy Glick;

19 (xvi) Kristin Gould;

20 (xvii) Lauren Grandcolas;

21 (xviii) Donald F. Greene;

22 (xix) Linda Gronlund;

23 (xx) Richard Guadagno;

24 (xxi) Toshiya Kuge;

25 (xxii) Hilda Marcin;
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1 (xxiii) Waleska Martinez;

2 (xxiv) Nicole Miller;

3 (xxv) Louis J. Nacke;

4 (xxvi) Donald Peterson;

5 (xxvii) Mark Rothenberg;

6 (xxviii) Christine Snyder;

7 (xxix) John Talignani;

8 (xxx) Honor Wainio; and

9 (xxxi) 3 additional heroes whose fami10 lies have requested that their names be

11 withheld.

12 (2) MODALITIES.—The modalities of presen13 tation of the medals struck under this Act shall be

14 determined by the President, after consultation with

15 the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the

16 Majority Leader of the Senate, the Minority Leader

17 of the Senate, and the Minority Leader of the House

18 of Representatives.

19 (b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For purposes of the

20 presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary

21 of the Treasury (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Sec22 retary’’) shall strike gold medals with suitable emblems,

23 devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec24 retary.
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1 SEC. 4. STATUS AS NATIONAL MEDALS.

2 The medals struck under this Act are national medals

3 for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.

4 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

5 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec6 retary such sums as may be necessary to carry out this

7 Act.

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