I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2561
To increase the rate of special pension for recipients of the Medal of Honor,
to authorize those recipients to be furnished an additional medal for
display purposes, to increase the criminal penalties associated with misuse
or fraud relating to the Medal of Honor, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 18, 2001
Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania (for himself, Mr. MURTHA, Mr. SMITH of New
Jersey, Mr. EVANS, Mr. SKELTON, Mr. GILMAN, Mr. MCHUGH, and Mr.
SENSENBRENNER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on
Armed Services and the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To increase the rate of special pension for recipients of
the Medal of Honor, to authorize those recipients to
be furnished an additional medal for display purposes,
to increase the criminal penalties associated with misuse
or fraud relating to the Medal of Honor, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Living American Hero
Appreciation Act’’.
SEC. 2. INCREASE IN RATE OF SPECIAL PENSION FOR
MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENTS AND RETRO-
ACTIVITY OF PAYMENTS TO DATE OF ACTION.
(a) INCREASE
IN
SPECIAL
PENSION.—Section
1562(a) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by
striking ‘‘a special pension at the rate of’’ and all that
follows through the period at the end and inserting ‘‘a spe-
cial pension, beginning as of the first day of the first
month that begins after the date of the act for which that
person was awarded the Medal of Honor. The special pen-
sion shall be at the rate of $1000, as increased from time
to time under section 5312(a) of this title.’’.
(b) COST OF LIVING ADJUSTMENT.—Section 5312(a)
of such title is amended by inserting after ‘‘children,’’ the
following: ‘‘the rate of special pension paid under section
1562 of this title,’’.
(c) LUMP SUM PAYMENT FOR EXISTING MEDAL OF
HONOR RECIPIENTS.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs
shall, within 60 days after the date of the enactment of
this Act, make a lump sum payment to each person who
is, immediately before the date of the enactment of this
Act, in receipt of the pension payable under section 1562
of title 38, United States Code (as amended by subsection
(a)). Such payment shall be in the amount equal to the
difference between—
(1) the total amount of special pension that the
person in fact has received; and
(2) the total amount of special pension that the
person would have received had the amendment
made by subsection (a) been in effect as of the date
of the act for which that person was awarded the
Medal of Honor.
SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR FOR DISPLAY OR
EXHIBIT PURPOSES UPON REQUEST.
(a) ARMY.—(1) Chapter 357 of title 10, United
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing new section:
‘‘§ 3754. Medal of honor: additional medal for display
or exhibit purposes
‘‘An individual awarded a medal of honor shall, upon
request of that individual, be furnished, without charge,
another medal of honor of appropriate design, for pur-
poses of display or exhibit by that individual in place of
the medal of honor first awarded.’’.
(2) The table of sections at the beginning of such
chapter is amended by adding at the end the following
new item:
‘‘3754. Medal of honor: additional medal for display or exhibit purposes.’’.