II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1980 

To posthumously award a Congressional gold medal to Alice Paul, in recognition of her role in the women’s suffrage movement and in advancing 

equal rights for women. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 5, 2015 

Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mrs. BOXER, Ms. MIKULSKI, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, 

Mr. FRANKEN, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, and Mr. BOOKER) 

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 

Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To posthumously award a Congressional gold medal to Alice 

Paul, in recognition of her role in the women’s suffrage 

movement and in advancing equal rights for women. 

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 ‘‘Alice Paul Congres5 sional Gold Medal Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds as follows: 


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1 (1) Alice Paul was born on January, 11, 1885, 

2 in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, and died on July 9, 

3 1977. 

4 (2) Alice Paul dedicated her life to securing suf5 frage and equal rights for all women and, as founder 

6 of the National Woman’s Party, she was instru7 mental in the passage of the 19th Amendment to the 

8 United States Constitution. 

9 (3) Alice Paul and the National Woman’s Party 

10 were the first group ever to picket the White House. 

11 (4) While President Woodrow Wilson trumpeted 

12 America’s values of democracy abroad during World 

13 War I, Alice Paul was dedicated to reminding the 

14 President that not all Americans enjoyed democracy 

15 at home. 

16 (5) Alice Paul used nonviolent civil disobedience 

17 to bring national attention to the women’s suffrage 

18 movement, such as the hunger strike she undertook 

19 when she was sentenced to jail in October 1917, for 

20 her demonstrations. 

21 (6) Alice Paul’s courage inspired thousands of 

22 women to join the women’s suffrage movement. 

23 (7) Instead of patiently waiting for States to 

24 grant women suffrage, Alice Paul mobilized an en25 tire generation of women to pressure the United 


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1 States Congress and the President to give all women 

2 in America the right to vote. 

3 (8) Alice Paul did not stop her fight after the 

4 19th Amendment was ratified. She drafted the 

5 Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Con6 stitution in 1923 and fought tirelessly for its pas7 sage until her death 54 years later. 

8 (9) Alice Paul lobbied Congress to include gen9 der in civil rights bills and was successful in includ10 ing sex discrimination in title VII of the Civil Rights 

11 Act of 1964. 

12 (10) Alice Paul sought equal rights for women 

13 all over the world, not just Americans and, as a 

14 means of pursuing this goal, founded the World 

15 Party for Equal Rights for Women in the 1930s. 

16 (11) Alice Paul was instrumental in the place17 ment of a passage on gender equality in the pre18 amble of the United Nations Charter. 

19 (12) Few people have played a greater role in 

20 shaping the history of the United States than Alice 

21 Paul. 

22 (13) Alice Paul is an example to all Americans 

23 of what one person can do to make a difference for 

24 millions of people. 


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1 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

2 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 

3 the House of Representatives and the President pro tem4 pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 

5 for the posthumous presentation, on behalf of the Con6 gress, of a gold medal of appropriate design in commemo7 ration of Alice Paul, in recognition of her role in the wom8 en’s suffrage movement and in advancing equal rights for 

9 women. 

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

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

12 of the Treasury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the 

13 ‘‘Secretary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable em14 blems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the 

15 Secretary. 

16 SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

17 The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 

18 bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3 

19 under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at 

20 a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, 

21 materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses, 

22 and the cost of the gold medal. 

23 SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 

24 (a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—The medals struck pursu25 ant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 

26 51 of title 31, United States Code. 


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1 (b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of section 

2 5134 of title 31, United States Code, all medals struck 

3 under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic items. 

4 SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF 

5 SALE. 

6 (a) AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS.—There is 

7 authorized to be charged against the United States Mint 

8 Public Enterprise Fund, such amounts as may be nec9 essary to pay for the costs of the medals struck pursuant 

10 to this Act. 

11 (b) PROCEEDS OF SALE.—Amounts received from the 

12 sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 

13 4 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public 

14 Enterprise Fund. 

Æ 


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