Sponsors (48)
The bill honors James Earl Jones and lets the public buy officially produced commemorative medals without new appropriations, but it shifts program activity and receipts into the Mint’s accounts with limited oversight and creates small public administrative costs and potential affordability limits for some buyers.
Americans (the public and cultural communities) gain a formal, public recognition of James Earl Jones’s contributions to the arts, promoting cultural inclusion and providing a role model for students and racial-ethnic minority communities.
James Earl Jones’s family (his son) will receive the official gold medal as a tangible heirloom, ensuring the family keeps the principal commemorative item.
Collectors and members of the public can purchase officially designated national medals (including affordable bronze duplicates), increasing public access to commemorative items while the U.S. Mint is authorized to recover production costs so no new taxpayer appropriations are required.
The Mint’s ability to sell duplicates and to use receipts through its Public Enterprise Fund shifts costs and activity into Mint accounts and — without detailed oversight or dollar limits — could divert Mint resources, affect other Mint operations, and create budgetary effects for taxpayers and federal employees.
Presenting and producing the official gold medal imposes small administrative costs and staff time on congressional officers and the Treasury, meaning a modest public expenditure for a symbolic honor.
Replica duplicates may be priced to cover production and overhead, which could make them unaffordable or limited in availability for low-income individuals despite the intent to make them available to the public.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Introduced March 6, 2025 by Michael Lawler · Last progress March 6, 2025
Creates a posthumous Congressional Gold Medal honoring James Earl Jones, directs the Secretary of the Treasury to mint the gold medal and authorizes bronze duplicates for sale, and directs presentation of the gold medal to Jones’s son after a congressional presentation. It classifies the medals as numismatic "national medals," allows the U.S. Mint to charge its Public Enterprise Fund for production costs, and requires proceeds from bronze-duplicate sales be deposited into that Fund.