[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 896 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 896
To posthumously award a Congressional Gold Medal to Dr. Li Wenliang, in
recognition of his efforts to save lives by drawing awareness to COVID-
19 and his call for transparency in China.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 5, 2021
Mr. Roy (for himself, Mr. Babin, Mr. Davidson, Mr. Budd, Mr. Weber of
Texas, Mr. Steube, Mr. Hice of Georgia, Mr. Perry, Mr. Stewart, and Mr.
Crenshaw) 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 Dr. Li Wenliang, in
recognition of his efforts to save lives by drawing awareness to COVID-
19 and his call for transparency in China.
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 ``Dr. Li Wenliang Congressional Gold
Medal Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) Dr. Li Wenliang was a 34-year-old ophthalmologist in
Wuhan, China, who died from the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-
19) after he sought to draw attention to the spread of the
virus despite the Chinese government's effort to suppress him.
(2) Research indicates that the first patient infected with
COVID-19 exhibited symptoms in early December 2019, if not
earlier.
(3) In December 2019, Dr. Li Wenliang notified his
colleagues in the medical community in China about the outbreak
of COVID-19.
(4) On January 3, 2020, after raising concerns about the
spread of COVID-19, Dr. Li Wenliang and seven other doctors
were detained and questioned by Chinese officials. Dr. Li
Wenliang was forced to sign a statement retracting his warnings
about the virus and confessing that he had spread illegal
rumors.
(5) Chinese government authorities played down dangers to
the public for weeks as COVID-19 continued to spread, with more
than 42,000 confirmed cases in China alone and at least 1,000
deaths reported as of February 11, 2020.
(6) Dr. Li Wenliang continued to work at Wuhan Central
Hospital despite his knowledge of the outbreak, and appears to
have been infected himself with COVID-19 after coming in
contact with a patient he was treating.
(7) In February 2020, in the hospital where he worked, Dr.
Li Wenliang died after contracting COVID-19.
(8) Before his death, Dr. Li Wenliang stated, ``If the
officials had disclosed information about the epidemic earlier,
I think it would have been a lot better. There should be more
openness and transparency.''.
(9) The people of China expressed their grief and anger on
social media after the death of Dr. Li Wenliang with the phrase
``I want freedom of speech'', which was quickly censored by the
Government of the People's Republic of China.
(10) The Chinese government inflicted incalculable damage
on their own people and the rest of the world by trying to
extinguish the news of the COVID-19 rather than mobilize global
efforts to battle it.
(11) Awarding Dr. Li Wenliang the Congressional Gold Medal,
would not only recognize his bold actions to draw attention to
the spread of COVID-19, but call global attention to China's
lack of transparency and censorship of speech.
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
Dr. Li Wenliang's efforts to save lives by drawing awareness to COVID-
19 and his call for transparency in China.
(b) Design and Striking.--For purposes of the presentation referred
to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (referred to in
this Act 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 elsewhere,
particularly at appropriate locations dedicated to preserving
the history of the Chinese pro-democracy movement.
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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