I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1017
To authorize the President to award a gold medal on behalf of the Congress 
to Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. in recognition of his outstanding and enduring 
contributions to the Nation. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 27, 2003
Mr. RANGEL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Financial Services 
A BILL 
To authorize the President to award a gold medal on behalf 
of the Congress to Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. in recognition 
of his outstanding and enduring contributions to the 
Nation.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 
The Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. was born on Octo-
ber 8, 1941, in Greenville, South Carolina. 
(2) In 1965 Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. joined the 
civil rights movement full-time, beginning his activ-
ism as a student leader in the sit-in movement and 
continuing as a young organizer for the Southern 
Christian Leadership Conference as an assistant to 
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 
(3) On June 30, 1968, Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. 
became an ordained minister, having attended the 
Chicago Theological Seminary. 
(4) Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. served as the national 
director for Operation Breadbasket and, in 1971 in 
Chicago, Illinois, founded People United to Save Hu-
manity, known as PUSH. 
(5) In 1984 Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. founded the 
National Rainbow Coalition, a national social justice 
organization devoted to political empowerment and 
to expanding educational and employment opportuni-
ties for disadvantaged people and for communities of 
color. 
(6) In 1996 Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. merged the 
National Rainbow Coalition and PUSH to continue 
the philosophies of both organizations and to maxi-
mize their resources. 
(7) Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. is, and has been for 
more than 30 years, one of the foremost political fig-
ures in the United States, playing a pivotal role in 
virtually every movement for human rights, civil
rights, peace, gender equality, empowerment, and 
economic and social justice. 
(8) Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. has been and con-
tinues to be counted on to serve as a champion and 
spokesman for a segment of the population whose 
voices all too often are not heard. 
(9) Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. has been called the 
‘‘conscience of the Nation’’ and the ‘‘great unifier’’, 
challenging the United States to establish just and 
humane priorities. 
(10) Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. has led a myriad of 
successful delegations, marches, and missions for 
justice, peace, and reconciliation. 
(11) Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. is a highly respected 
world leader who has acted on many occasions as an 
international diplomat. 
(12) In 1984 Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. secured the 
release of a captured Navy pilot, Lieutenant Robert 
Goodman, who was shot down over Lebanon. He 
also negotiated the release of 22 Americans and 26 
Cubans in Cuba during 1984. 
(13) In 1990 Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. won the re-
lease of hundreds of foreign nationals, including 47 
Americans, being held in Iraq and Kuwait by Sad-
dam Hussein.
(14) In October 1997 Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. 
was appointed by President William Jefferson Clin-
ton and by Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright 
as the Special Envoy of the President and the Sec-
retary of State for the Promotion of Democracy in 
Africa. 
(15) On May 2, 1999, Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. 
obtained the negotiated release of Army Specialist 
Steven M. Gonzales and Staff Sergeants Christopher 
J. Stone and Andrew Ramirez, 3 United States sol-
diers who had spent 32 days in captivity in Yugo-
slavia as prisoners of war and hostages. 
(16) Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. has dedicated his 
life to the principles of freedom, peace, justice, inter-
national good will, and the struggle for civil rights 
and equality for Americans and for all peoples, at 
home and abroad. 
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 
(a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The President is 
authorized to present, on behalf of the Congress, a gold 
medal of appropriate design to Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. in 
recognition of his outstanding and enduring contributions 
to the Nation. 
(b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For the purpose of the 
presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary
of the Treasury shall strike a gold medal with suitable em-
blems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the 
Secretary. 
(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATION.—Effective 
February 1, 2001, there are authorized to be appropriated 
$30,000 to carry out this section. 
SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 
(a) STRIKING
AND SALE.—The Secretary of the 
Treasury may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the 
gold medal struck under section 2 under such regulations 
as the Secretary may prescribe, at a price sufficient to 
cover the cost thereof, including labor, materials, dies, use 
of machinery, and overhead expenses, and the cost of the 
gold medal. 
(b) REIMBURSEMENT OF APPROPRIATION.—The ap-
propriation used to carry out section 2 shall be reimbursed 
out of the proceeds of sales under subsection (a). 
SEC. 4. NATIONAL MEDALS. 
The medals struck under this Act are national medals 
for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.
Æ