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[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1273 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1273

To honor Susan B. Anthony by celebrating her legacy on the third Monday 
                              in February.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 3, 2009

  Mrs. Maloney (for herself and Mr. Arcuri) introduced the following 
 bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government 
                                 Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
To honor Susan B. Anthony by celebrating her legacy on the third Monday 
                              in February.

    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 ``Susan B. Anthony Birthday Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Susan Brownell Anthony created the first women's 
        movement in the United States and led that movement for more 
        than 50 years.
            (2) Born in South Adams, Massachusetts, on February 15, 
        1820, Susan B. Anthony met Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1851 and 
        attended her first women's rights convention in Syracuse in 
        1852, where she joined the fight to get women the right to 
        vote, arguing that ``the right women needed above every other . 
        . . was the right of suffrage''.
            (3) The first proposal for women's suffrage was presented 
        to Congress in 1868.
            (4) Susan B. Anthony appeared before every Congress from 
        1869 to 1906 to ask for passage of a suffrage amendment.
            (5) Susan B. Anthony served as the president of the 
        National Woman Suffrage Association from 1892 until 1900.
            (6) Designated then as the 16th amendment, the first formal 
        women's suffrage amendment to the Constitution of the United 
        States was introduced in January 1878 and stated, ``The right 
        of citizens to vote shall not be abridged by the United States 
        or by any State on account of sex.''. This same amendment was 
        introduced in every session of Congress for the next 41 years.
            (7) Before her death on March 13, 1906, Susan B. Anthony's 
        last public words were ``Failure is impossible.''.
            (8) On May 21, 1919, the House of Representatives passed 
        the 19th amendment, and 2 weeks later, the Senate followed.
            (9) On August 18, 1920, when Tennessee became the 36th 
        State to ratify the amendment, the amendment passed its final 
        hurdle of obtaining the agreement of three-fourths of the 
        states. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby certified the 
        ratification on August 26, 1920.
            (10) The text of the 19th amendment is: ``The right of 
        citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or 
        abridged by the United States or by any State on account of 
        sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by 
        appropriate legislation.''.
            (11) In 1921, a marble statue of Susan B. Anthony and her 
        women's rights colleagues, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady 
        Stanton, was dedicated in the United States Capitol.
            (12) Susan B. Anthony's picture has appeared on two postage 
        stamps, the 3-cent purple stamp issued in 1936 and the 50-cent 
        deeper purple stamp issued in 1955.
            (13) Susan B. Anthony's home in Rochester, New York, has 
        been a National Historic Landmark since 1966.
            (14) In 1979, Susan B. Anthony was honored by having her 
        image placed on a dollar coin.
            (15) No Federal holiday celebrates the birthday of a woman.

SEC. 3. CELEBRATING SUSAN B. ANTHONY'S LEGACY ON THE THIRD MONDAY IN 
              FEBRUARY.

    Section 6103(a) of title 5, United States Code, is amended by 
striking ``the third Monday in February'' and inserting ``the third 
Monday in February, on which day the Nation shall also celebrate the 
legacy of Susan B. Anthony''.
                                 <all>
```