Sponsors (122)
Authorizes a Congressional Gold Medal honoring North Platte Canteen WWII volunteers, directs the Mint to strike the medal, and places the original in the Lincoln County Historical Museum.
Official title: To award a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the individuals and communities who volunteered or donated items to the North Platte Canteen in North Platte, Nebraska, during World War II from December 25, 1941, to April 1, 1946.
Introduced February 21, 2025 by Adrian Smith · Last progress February 21, 2025
The bill honors WWII-era volunteers and makes a publicly accessible medal available (including affordable duplicates funded by sales), while shifting costs and administrative responsibility to the Mint's fund—reducing direct taxpayer subsidy but also lessening congressional appropriation oversight and creating modest operational risks for the Mint.
People who want a keepsake can buy affordable bronze duplicates of the medal, and sales are structured to cover production costs with proceeds returned to the Mint, reducing or avoiding a net taxpayer subsidy.
Residents, visitors, students, and researchers gain permanent public access to the medal and its history because the medal will be placed in the Lincoln County Historical Museum, preserving the North Platte Canteen legacy for education and commemoration.
The medals are officially classified as national/numismatic items, giving the Mint clear legal authority to strike, handle, sell, or dispose of them under existing Treasury/Mint rules.
Taxpayers may lose some budgetary oversight because production costs are handled through the Mint's Public Enterprise Fund rather than traditional appropriations, reducing direct congressional control of spending.
Shifting production costs to the Mint's Public Enterprise Fund could lower that Fund's available balance, potentially constraining other Mint activities or requiring future transfers to replenish it.
The action is largely symbolic—honoring volunteers—so the public receives recognition rather than direct material benefits, yet federal resources are used to implement and administer it.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Authorizes Congress to present a Congressional Gold Medal honoring the volunteers and donors who operated the North Platte Canteen in North Platte, Nebraska, during World War II, and directs the United States Mint to produce the medal. Requires the original gold medal to be given to the Lincoln County Historical Museum for display and research and allows the Mint to strike and sell bronze duplicates to cover production costs, with proceeds deposited into the Mint Public Enterprise Fund.