Title: To award posthumously a Congressional Gold Medal, in commemoration to the servicemembers who perished in Afghanistan on August 26, 2021, during the evacuation of citizens of the United States and Afghan allies at Hamid Karzai International Airport, and for other purposes.
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
This bill posthumously provides for the award of a Congressional Gold Medal in commemoration of the 13 service members who died on August 26, 2021, while stationed at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Afghanistan.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5142 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5142

 To award posthumously a Congressional Gold Medal, in commemoration to 
  the servicemembers who perished in Afghanistan on August 26, 2021, 
   during the evacuation of citizens of the United States and Afghan 
 allies at Hamid Karzai International Airport, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            August 31, 2021

Mrs. McClain (for herself, Mr. Bacon, Mr. Banks, Mrs. Bice of Oklahoma, 
  Mr. Biggs, Mr. Bucshon, Mr. Calvert, Mr. Carson, Mr. Cawthorn, Mr. 
  Chabot, Mr. Cline, Mr. Crawford, Mr. Davidson, Mr. Fortenberry, Mr. 
Fulcher, Mr. Gaetz, Mr. Garbarino, Mr. Gibbs, Mr. Gimenez, Mr. Gonzalez 
  of Ohio, Mr. Good of Virginia, Mr. Gooden of Texas, Mrs. Greene of 
Georgia, Mr. Griffith, Mr. Guthrie, Mrs. Harshbarger, Ms. Herrell, Mr. 
 Hice of Georgia, Mrs. Hinson, Mr. Hudson, Mr. Huizenga, Ms. Jacobs of 
 California, Mr. Jordan, Mr. Joyce of Ohio, Mr. Kelly of Pennsylvania, 
  Mr. Kelly of Mississippi, Mrs. Kim of California, Mr. Lamborn, Mr. 
    Latta, Mr. Lawson of Florida, Mr. LaMalfa, Mr. Luetkemeyer, Ms. 
 Malliotakis, Mr. McClintock, Mr. McKinley, Mr. Meijer, Mrs. Miller of 
West Virginia, Mrs. Miller-Meeks, Mr. Moolenaar, Mr. Mooney, Mr. Moore 
 of Utah, Mr. Moulton, Mrs. Murphy of Florida, Mr. Owens, Mr. Palazzo, 
 Mr. Pappas, Mr. Pfluger, Mr. Reschenthaler, Mr. Rouzer, Mr. Smith of 
Nebraska, Mr. Smucker, Ms. Stefanik, Mr. Steil, Mr. Steube, Ms. Tenney, 
Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Mr. Turner, Mrs. Wagner, Mr. Walberg, Mrs. 
Walorski, Mr. Weber of Texas, Mr. Westerman, Mr. Williams of Texas, Mr. 
 Wittman, Mr. Young, Mr. Harris, Ms. Cheney, Mr. Burchett, Mr. Allen, 
    Mr. Amodei, Ms. Herrera Beutler, Mr. Bilirakis, Mr. Brooks, Mr. 
     Fitzgerald, Mrs. Cammack, Mr. Carl, Mr. Cole, Mr. Curtis, Mr. 
DesJarlais, Mr. Feenstra, Mr. Gallagher, Mr. Zeldin, Mr. Ferguson, Mr. 
  Fitzpatrick, Mr. Fleischmann, Mr. C. Scott Franklin of Florida, Mr. 
  Guest, Mrs. Hartzler, Mr. Jacobs of New York, Mr. Johnson of South 
Dakota, Mr. Keating, Mr. Kinzinger, Mr. Kustoff, Mrs. Luria, Mr. Mann, 
 Mr. Mast, Mr. McCaul, Mr. Murphy of North Carolina, Mr. Newhouse, Mr. 
Palmer, Mr. Schweikert, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Mr. Soto, Mrs. Spartz, 
Mr. Valadao, Ms. Van Duyne, Mr. Vela, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Mr. 
  Hollingsworth, Mr. Gallego, Mr. Smith of Missouri, Mr. Norman, Mr. 
Thompson of Pennsylvania, Mr. Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, Mr. Carter of 
  Georgia, Mr. Rodney Davis of Illinois, Mr. Levin of California, Mr. 
Emmer, Mr. LaTurner, Mr. Graves of Louisiana, Mr. Fallon, Mr. Aguilar, 
   Mrs. Lesko, Mr. Balderson, Miss Gonzalez-Colon, Ms. Slotkin, Mr. 
 Taylor, Mr. Horsford, Mr. Pence, Mr. Moore of Alabama, Mr. Van Drew, 
   Ms. Sherrill, Mr. Garcia of California, Mr. Upton, Mr. Budd, Mr. 
Donalds, Mr. Obernolte, Mr. Loudermilk, Mrs. Rodgers of Washington, Mr. 
 Bost, Mr. Costa, Ms. Salazar, Mrs. McBath, Mr. Grothman, Ms. Letlow, 
Mr. Golden, Mr. Morelle, Mr. Simpson, Mr. Bishop of North Carolina, Ms. 
 Mace, Mrs. Boebert, Mr. Johnson of Ohio, Mr. McHenry, and Mr. Bentz) 
 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 award posthumously a Congressional Gold Medal, in commemoration to 
  the servicemembers who perished in Afghanistan on August 26, 2021, 
   during the evacuation of citizens of the United States and Afghan 
 allies at Hamid Karzai International Airport, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) At 9:44 A.M., on August 26, 2021, the Pentagon 
        confirmed that one explosion occurred at the Hamid Karzai 
        International Airport.
            (2) The explosion was confirmed to be a suicide bombing by 
        ISIS-K terrorist group.
            (3) Estimates as high as 200 deaths were reported, 
        including 13 servicemembers of the United States, as well as 
        hundreds more wounded.
            (4) The attack on Thursday, August 26, 2021, at the Hamid 
        Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, killed 13 
        United States servicemembers, making it the deadliest single 
        day of the war for the United States in more than a decade.
            (5) The American servicemembers went above and beyond the 
        call of duty to protect citizens of the United States and our 
        allies to ensure they are brought to safety in an extremely 
        dangerous situation as the Taliban regained control over 
        Afghanistan.
            (6) The American servicemembers exemplified extreme bravery 
        and valor against armed enemy combatants.
            (7) The American servicemembers dedicated their lives and 
        their heroism deserves great honor.
            (8) Maxton Soviak, Kareem Nikoui, David Espinoza, Rylee 
        McCollum, Jared Schmitz, Hunter Lopez, Taylor Hoover, Daegan 
        William-Tyeler Page, Nicole Gee, Humberto Sanchez, Dylan 
        Merola, Johanny Rosario Pichardo, and Ryan Knauss have been 
        identified as the 13 servicemembers who died from the blast 
        while stationed at Hamid Karzai International Airport.

SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDALS.

    (a) Presentations 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 single gold medal of appropriate design in 
commemoration to the 13 servicemembers who perished in Afghanistan, on 
August 26, 2021.
    (b) Design and Striking.--For the purposes 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 suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by 
the Secretary.
    (c) Smithsonian Institution.--
            (1) In general.--Following the award of the gold medal 
        under subsection (a), the gold medal shall be given to the 
        Smithsonian Institution, 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 Institution shall make the gold medal received 
        under paragraph (1) available for display outside of the 
        District of Columbia at times, particularly at other locations 
        associated with the 13 servicemembers who perished in 
        Afghanistan on August 26, 2021.

SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS.

    The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold 
medal struck pursuant to section 2 at a price sufficient to cover the 
cost thereof, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and 
overhead expenses.

SEC. 4. STATUS OF MEDALS.

    (a) National Medals.--The medal struck pursuant to this Act is a 
national medal 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.

SEC. 5. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF SALE.

    (a) Authority To Use Fund Amounts.--There is authorized to be 
charged against the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund such 
amounts as may be necessary to pay for the costs of the medals struck 
pursuant to this Act.
    (b) Proceeds of Sale.--The amounts received from the sale of 
duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 3 shall be deposited 
into the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund.
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