PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.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.
Congressional Research Service
No official summary is available in the imported record yet.
People & committees
Rep. Velázquez, Nydia M. [D-NY-7] · D–NY
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
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.
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.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We also preserved the text version used in the PlainBill explanation below.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Mar 19, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze H.R.1817 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine H.R.1817 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine H.R.1817 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine H.R.1817 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.
PlainBill explanation
Based on the full Introduced in House · 2025-03-03 text. This explanation has not received human editorial review. This overview describes the proposal’s major provisions; it does not establish what its real-world effects would be.
This bill would posthumously honor Arturo Alfonso Schomburg with a Congressional Gold Medal for preserving the history and culture of people of African descent worldwide. The medal would go to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture for display and research. The Treasury could sell bronze copies at prices covering their costs, and the bill would authorize using the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund to pay medal costs.
the posthumous presentation, on behalf of Congress, of a gold medal of appropriate design to Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, in recognition of his pioneering work in collecting and preserving the history and culture of the African diaspora.
the gold medal shall be given to the National Museum of African American History and Culture of the Smithsonian Institution, where it shall be displayed as appropriate and made available for research.
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3, at a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof
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 under this Act.
The bill would be called the Arturo Alfonso Schomburg Congressional Gold Medal Act. Its findings present the award as recognition of Schomburg’s legacy and his contribution to scholarship about Black history; these are Congress’s stated reasons for the proposal.
This Act may be cited as the Arturo Alfonso Schomburg Congressional Gold Medal Act.
The Congressional Gold Medal would be an appropriate way to honor Schomburg’s legacy and his role in laying the foundation for future scholarship and global recognition of Black contributions to society.
The House Speaker and the Senate’s president pro tempore would have to arrange the posthumous presentation on behalf of Congress. The Treasury Secretary would have to produce the gold medal and choose its design and inscriptions.
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 Congress, of a gold medal of appropriate design to Arturo Alfonso Schomburg
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.
After the award, the medal would have to be given to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. The museum would display it as appropriate and make it available for research.
Following the award of the gold medal under subsection (a), the gold medal shall be given to the National Museum of African American History and Culture of the Smithsonian Institution, where it shall be displayed as appropriate and made available for research.
The bill would express Congress’s preference, rather than impose a requirement, that the Smithsonian make the medal available for display elsewhere, especially at locations and events associated with Schomburg.
It is the sense of Congress that the Smithsonian Institution should make the gold medal received under paragraph (1) available for display elsewhere, particularly at other locations and events associated with Arturo Alfonso Schomburg.
The Treasury Secretary could, but would not have to, produce and sell bronze copies. Their price would have to cover production costs, including labor, materials, dies used to stamp the medals, machinery use, and overhead expenses.
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3, at a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses.
The medals would be classified as national medals under chapter 51 of title 31 of the United States Code. They would also be treated as numismatic items—items associated with coin and medal collecting—for purposes of sections 5134 and 5136.
The medals struck pursuant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.
or purposes of sections 5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic items.
The bill would authorize charging the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund whatever amounts are necessary to pay medal costs. This provision authorizes use of the fund without specifying a dollar amount.
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 under this Act.
Money received from selling the bronze copies would have to be deposited into the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund.
Amounts received from the sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 4 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund.
The supplied official-actions snapshot, updated March 19, 2025, records introduction in the House on March 3, 2025, and referral that day to the Financial Services and House Administration committees for provisions within their respective jurisdictions.
Source snapshot updated 2025-03-19T15:15:08Z.
2025-03-03: Introduced in House
2025-03-03: 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 closer look
Reviewed version: Introduced in House · 2025-03-03. These findings describe provisions and who may benefit; they are not judgments of waste, corruption, or motive.
This review covers the supplied bill text. “None identified” does not rule out provisions in later versions or accompanying reports and disclosures.
Provisions outside the bill’s main subject, or policy changes attached to appropriations.
None identified in the reviewed text
No unrelated provision or policy rider was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not establish what other versions or accompanying materials contain.
Spending directed to particular recipients or places outside ordinary competitive or formula-based allocation.
None identified in the reviewed text
No congressionally directed spending earmark was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. Authorization to pay medal production costs does not by itself establish an earmark. This conclusion is limited to this version; supporting disclosure and committee materials are absent.
Narrow exceptions, exemptions, or preferential treatment that warrant a closer look.
Findings to examine
The text provides a narrowly directed honorary benefit as its central purpose. This classification describes the specific recognition and does not imply improper favoritism or a cash payment.
Arturo Alfonso Schomburg is the specifically named recipient of a posthumous Congressional Gold Medal for his work preserving African diaspora history and culture. The award is the bill’s main policy.
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 Congress, of a gold medal of appropriate design to Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, in recognition of his pioneering work in collecting and preserving the history and culture of the African diaspora.
Full text preserved for this analysis. Legislative record snapshot: Mar 19, 2025. How PlainBill uses AI