Sponsors (4)
The bill preserves the Congressional Award program and uninterrupted student recognition for five years and grants administrative flexibility to the program and Treasury, at the cost of modest ongoing taxpayer funding and increased legal/procurement uncertainty from retroactivity and less-prescriptive rules.
Board members, staff, and the Congressional Award program as an institution will continue operating through October 1, 2028, avoiding an immediate shutdown of the program.
Students participating in the Congressional Award will continue to have uninterrupted access to recognition and awards for five more years.
Program administrators, government contractors, and the Treasury gain greater operational flexibility — the Board can choose medal materials/designs and the Secretary of the Treasury has clearer authority for striking procedures — simplifying procurement and administration.
Taxpayers will likely bear continued administrative costs of maintaining the Congressional Award Board for an additional five years.
The bill's retroactive effective date (to 10/1/2023) could create legal or financial uncertainty for third parties and contractors who took actions between that date and enactment.
Removing statutory material requirements and making the law less prescriptive reduces transparency about what recipients will receive and may create short-term procurement uncertainty and administrative costs for vendors and program administrators.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Extends the Congressional Award Board's termination date to Oct 1, 2028 (retroactive to Oct 1, 2023) and removes a statutory medal-composition requirement.
Extends the statutory life of the Congressional Award Board five years, moving its termination date to October 1, 2028 and treating that date as if it had been in effect since October 1, 2023. It also removes a specific statutory requirement about the metal composition of the Award medals and loosens a related textual constraint so striking medals is no longer tied to that composition requirement. The changes preserve program continuity and give the Board and the Treasury more flexibility on medal production without creating new funding or program requirements.
Introduced January 28, 2025 by Cynthia M. Lummis · Last progress December 26, 2025