Theodore Roosevelt Commemorative
Coin Act
The TR Commemorative Coin Act did not reach the 290 co-sponsorships it needed and is currently on hold. Congressman Peter King of New York plans to reintroduce the bill in 2009. Please check back early next early next year for the status of the bill and to see what you can do to support this effort.
For more information about the original bill and how the funds will be used, click here.
For a sample letter to send to your representative,
click here.
Please Help Secure Congressional Support To Create
Special TR Coins Benefiting Sagamore Hill
Congressman Peter T.
King, who represents the district where Sagamore
Hill National Historic Site is located, has introduced,
H.R. 389, legislation that would authorize the
Treasury to mint up to 1 million in one-dollar
silver coins in 2006 honoring the centennial of
the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Theodore
Roosevelt.
These special coins would be
sold for the cost of production plus a surcharge
of $10 per coin. The surcharge fees, which could
amount to as much as $10 million, would go to
the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA), on a
matching basis, to fund educational programs and
facilities, including a new visitor's center,
at Sagamore Hill National Historic Site.
Obviously, Congressman King's
bill, H.R. 389, is a tremendous opportunity for
the Theodore Roosevelt Association. We believe
that the bill would have an excellent chance of
passage in the House of Representatives. But in
order for a commemorative coin bill to come to
a vote, the House requires co-sponsorship by two-thirds
of its members, or 290 Congressmen. This requirement
cannot be waived.
Please contact your Member
of the U.S. House of Representatives as soon as
possible and ask him or her to become a co-sponsor
of H.R. 389, introduced by Congressman Peter
T. King of New York. Because it is an election
year, work on legislation like this probably needs
to be completed by July 4 or the measure will
die.
H.R. 389 calls for the TR
commemorative coins to be struck in two designs:
one with the James Earle Fraser profile from the
TRA logo on one side, and the Augustus Saint-Gaudens
eagle from the old gold coins on the other side;
and one with the Fraser statue of TR at New York's
American Museum of Natural History on one side,
and the TRA's logo of the crusader's flaming sword
on the other side.
After the coin bill passes
the House, it must of course go to the Senate,
and we are currently working on sponsorship in
the Senate. But we have no bill number or other
information at this time. We will let you know
when a Senate bill is ready.
Federal law requires that funds
from commemorative coin bills be matched by privately
secured funds raised by the group receiving the
surcharges, in this case the TRA. All told, between
surcharges and this fundraising, there is a chance
to pump as much as $20 million into Sagamore Hill.
That is money that could be used wisely and well.
At Sagamore Hill we currently
have no auditorium or adequate media theater.
The old visitor center is too small to accommodate
the public. We also need conference rooms and
a library, and there is not sufficient space at
the site for offices for the TRA. H.R. 389 gives
us a chance not only to meet these pressing needs,
but also to raise an endowment to support all
we do in the future at Sagamore Hill.
John Allen Gable
Executive Director
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Dear Congressman________:
I urge you to become a co-sponsor
of H.R. 389, the bill introduced by Congressman
Peter T. King of New York which authorizes the
minting of commemorative coins honoring Theodore
Roosevelt, which would raise needed funds for
Theodore Roosevelt's home, Sagamore Hill National
Historic Site in Oyster Bay, NY. The funds would
go for educational programs and a new visitor
center at the site. Please contact Congressman
King's office and sign on as a co-sponsor for
H.R. 389. This means much to preserving TR's
legacy for future generations.
Sincerely yours,
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