I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 115 

To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36th 

President of the United States whose visionary leadership secured passage of the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965, Social Security Amendments Act (Medicare) of 1965, Civil Rights Act of 1964, Higher Education Act of 1965, and Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 4, 2021 

Ms. JACKSON LEE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Lyndon Baines 

Johnson, the 36th President of the United States whose 

visionary leadership secured passage of the landmark 

Voting Rights Act of 1965, Social Security Amendments 

Act (Medicare) of 1965, Civil Rights Act of 1964, Higher 

Education Act of 1965, and Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965. 

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

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 

4 The Congress finds the following: 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 115 IH

1 (1) As a Member of Congress from the Tenth 

2 Congressional District of Texas, as majority leader 

3 of the U.S. Senate, Vice President and President of 

4 the United States, Lyndon Baines Johnson’s accom5 plishments in the fields of civil rights, education, 

6 and economic opportunity rank among the greatest 

7 achievements of the past half century. 

8 (2) As President, Lyndon Johnson proposed, 

9 championed, led to passage, and signed into law on 

10 August 6, 1965, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, 

11 which swept away barriers impeding millions of 

12 Americans from meaningful participation in Amer13 ican political life. 

14 (3) On July 30, 1965, President Johnson 

15 signed into law the Social Security Amendments Act 

16 of 1965, popularly known as Medicare, which has 

17 transformed the delivery of health care in the United 

18 States and which, along with Social Security, re19 duced the rate of poverty among the elderly from 

20 28.5 percent in 1966 to 9.1 percent in 2012. 

21 (4) On July 2, 1964, President Johnson se22 cured passage and signed into law the most sweep23 ing civil rights legislation since Reconstruction, the 

24 Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimina25 tion in employment, education, and public accomVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Jan 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H115.IH H115

kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 115 IH

1 modations based on race, color, religion, or national 

2 origin. 

3 (5) On November 8, 1965, President Johnson 

4 signed into law the Higher Education Act, which 

5 provided need-based financial aid to students in the 

6 form of scholarships, work-study grants, and loans, 

7 and thus made higher education more accessible to 

8 populations of persons who were previously unable to 

9 attend college because of economic circumstances. 

10 (6) On October 3, 1965, President Johnson 

11 signed into law the Immigration and Naturalization 

12 Act of 1965, which transformed the Nation’s immi13 gration system by abolishing the racially based quota 

14 system that had defined American immigration pol15 icy for four decades and replaced it with a policy 

16 whose central purpose was family reunification, with 

17 a preference for immigrants with specific skill sets. 

18 (7) According to Robert A. Caro, the pre19 eminent biographer of Lyndon Baines Johnson, with 

20 the single exception of Lincoln, President Johnson 

21 was the greatest champion of the poor and under22 privileged in the history of the Republic and was the 

23 President ‘‘who wrote mercy and justice into the 

24 statute books by which America was governed’’. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 115 IH

1 SEC. 2. 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 award, on behalf of Congress, of a 

6 gold medal of appropriate design to Lyndon Baines John7 son in recognition of his contributions to the Nation, in8 cluding passage of the landmark Voting Rights Act of 

9 1965, the Social Security Amendments Act (Medicare) of 

10 1965, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Higher Education 

11 Act of 1965, and the Immigration and Naturalization Act 

12 of 1965. 

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

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

15 of the Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Sec16 retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, 

17 devices, and inscriptions to be determined by the Sec18 retary. 

19 (c) LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON LIBRARY AND MU20 SEUM.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Following the award of the 

22 gold medal under subsection (a), the gold medal 

23 shall be given to the Lyndon Baines Johnson Li24 brary and Museum, where it will be available for dis25 play as appropriate and available for research. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 115 IH

1 (2) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 

2 the Congress that the Lyndon Baines Johnson Li3 brary and Museum should make the gold medal 

4 awarded pursuant to this Act available for display 

5 elsewhere, particularly at appropriate locations asso6 ciated with Lyndon Baines Johnson. 

7 SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

8 The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 

9 bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 2 

10 under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at 

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

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

13 and the cost of the gold medal. 

14 SEC. 4. STATUS OF MEDALS. 

15 (a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—The medals struck pursu16 ant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 

17 51 of title 31, United States Code. 

18 (b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of sections 

19 5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 

20 struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 

21 items. 

Æ 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS