Title: Justin Smith Morrill Congressional Gold Medal Act
Policy area: Education

Summary:
Justin Smith Morrill Congressional Gold Medal Act
This bill requires the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate to posthumously award a Congressional Gold Medal to Justin Smith Morrill, a United States Senator from Vermont, for his lasting contributions to higher education opportunity for all Americans.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3034 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3034

   To posthumously award a Congressional gold medal to Justin Smith 
Morrill, United States Senator of the State of Vermont, in recognition 
 of his lasting contributions to higher education opportunity for all 
                               Americans.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 23, 2017

Mr. Newhouse (for himself, Mr. Peterson, Mr. Welch, Mr. David Scott of 
 Georgia, Ms. DelBene, Mrs. Walorski, Ms. Jenkins of Kansas, Mr. Kind, 
 Mr. McGovern, Mr. Loebsack, Mr. Westerman, Mr. Norcross, Mr. Delaney, 
 Mr. Rush, Mr. Turner, Ms. Moore, Mr. Walz, Mr. Posey, Mr. Beyer, Mr. 
 Gosar, Mr. Jody B. Hice of Georgia, Mr. Jenkins of West Virginia, Mr. 
Palazzo, Mr. Young of Iowa, Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania, Mr. Stewart, 
  Mr. Moolenaar, Mr. Royce of California, Mr. Abraham, Mr. Bost, Mrs. 
McMorris Rodgers, Mr. Lucas, Mr. Shimkus, Mr. LaMalfa, Mr. Lamborn, Mr. 
   Rouzer, and Mr. Conaway) introduced the following bill; which was 
referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the 
  Committee on House Administration, for a period to be subsequently 
   determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To posthumously award a Congressional gold medal to Justin Smith 
Morrill, United States Senator of the State of Vermont, in recognition 
 of his lasting contributions to higher education opportunity for all 
                               Americans.

    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 ``Justin Smith Morrill Congressional 
Gold Medal Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that:
            (1) Justin Smith Morrill, the son of a blacksmith and 
        farmer, was born in Strafford, Vermont, on April 14, 1810. He 
        prospered as a merchant and businessman in his early years and 
        served in public office the remainder of his life.
            (2) Morrill, the longest serving Member of Congress in the 
        Nineteenth Century and Chairman of the Committee on Ways and 
        Means in the United States House of Representatives and the 
        Committee on Finance in the United States Senate, served 5 
        terms in the United States House of Representatives, from 1854 
        to 1869, and 6 terms in the United States Senate, from 1872 to 
        1898.
            (3) Morrill, inspired by his own lack of public education 
        opportunity beyond his fifteenth birthday, proposed legislation 
        that would set aside public lands to be sold by the states to 
        create and fund State-run colleges.
            (4) Congress enacted the First Morrill Act (7 U.S.C. 301 et 
        seq.) on July 2, 1862, marking the genesis of the national 
        focus on higher education in the United States through the 
        establishment of the land-grant institutions.
            (5) Congress enacted the Second Morrill Act (7 U.S.C. 321 
        et seq.) on August 30, 1890, establishing what is now a 
        flourishing system of historically Black land-grant colleges 
        and universities across the nation.
            (6) Land-grant and other public research universities today 
        award nearly 1,000,000 degrees annually and perform more than 
        $37,000,000,000 of research for improving the lives of 
        Americans.
            (7) In 1864, Morrill introduced House Joint Resolution 66 
        which created the National Statuary Hall from the Old Hall of 
        the U.S. House of Representatives and authorized the President 
        of the United States to invite States to submit two statues of 
        worthy citizens to be exhibited, which continues as a daily 
        inspiration to the thousands of visitors to the United States 
        Capitol.
            (8) As chairman of the Committee on Buildings and Grounds, 
        Morrill served as principal advocate for the construction and 
        financing of the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of 
        Congress; for inviting Frederick Law Olmstead to design the 
        present landscape of the Capitol; for planning the location of 
        the United States Supreme Court Building; for raising funds to 
        complete the Washington Monument; and for championing the 
        Smithsonian Institution.
            (9) In delivering his last speech as Senator just two weeks 
        before his death, Morrill noted that the location of the United 
        States Supreme Court in close proximity to the United States 
        Capitol and the Library of Congress ``would form a harmonious 
        group of large public structures on Capitol Hill of unequaled 
        grandeur, and will be appreciated by the American people 
        forever''.
            (10) In his 1882 book ``Self-Consciousness of Noted 
        Persons'', Morrill concluded, ``The spur to acquire some future 
        reputation, to be earned by conscious fidelity, keeps the work 
        of men always at its best, the mechanic at the top of his 
        skill, the merchant ever mindful of the upright and downright 
        in trade; the pulpit and the bar it pushes on to effort and to 
        eloquence; it makes the soldier brave in battle, the politician 
        ashamed not be a patriot, and the statesman unwilling to give 
        up to party what was meant for mankind.''.
            (11) After Morrill died on December 28, 1898, eulogies 
        extolled Morrill's leadership, integrity and good-will, 
        including the comments of Senator George Graham Vest of 
        Missouri who stated, ``If all those to whom he did acts of 
        kindness could whisper across his grave, it would make an 
        anthem sweeter and more sonorous than any that ever pealed 
        through cathedral aisle'' and those of Senator George Hoar of 
        Massachusetts who recalled that Justin Morrill, ``knew in his 
        youth the veterans of the Revolution and the generation who 
        declared independence and framed the Constitution. He knew the 
        whole history of his country from the time of her independence, 
        partly from the lips of those who shaped it, partly because of 
        the large share he had in it himself.''.

SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.

    (a) Presentation Authorized.--The Speaker of the House of 
Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate shall make 
appropriate arrangements for the posthumous presentation, on behalf of 
the Congress, of a gold medal of appropriate design in commemoration of 
Justin Smith Morrill in recognition of his lasting contributions to 
higher education opportunity for all Americans.
    (b) Design and Striking.--For the purpose of the presentation 
referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (hereafter 
in this Act referred to as the ``Secretary'') shall strike a gold medal 
with--
            (1) an inscription stating ``A Statesman who did not give 
        up to party what was intended for humankind''; and
            (2) suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions to be 
        determined by the Secretary.
    (c) Smithsonian.--
            (1) In general.--Following the award of the gold medal in 
        honor of Justin Smith Morrill under subsection (a), the gold 
        medal shall be given to the Smithsonian, where it shall be 
        available for display as appropriate and made available for 
        research.
            (2) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that 
        the Smithsonian should make the gold medal received under 
        paragraph (1) available for display or for loan as appropriate 
        so that it may be displayed elsewhere, particularly at other 
        appropriate locations associated with the life of Justin Smith 
        Morrill.

SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.

    The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold 
medal struck pursuant to section 3 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.

SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS.

    (a) National Medals.--The medals struck pursuant to this Act are 
national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States 
Code.
    (b) Numismatic Items.--For purposes of section 5134 of title 31, 
United States Code, all medals struck under this Act shall be 
considered to be numismatic items.
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