Sponsors (4)
The bill preserves the Congressional Award so young people can continue earning recognition and avoids immediate program disruption, at the cost of modest federal expenditures and potential legal/administrative questions from the retroactive effective date.
Students and youth participants can continue to earn Congressional Award recognitions through Oct 1, 2028, preserving access to the program and its developmental opportunities.
Federal administrators and program partners avoid immediate disruption because the law is made retroactive to Oct 1, 2023, preserving continuity of program operations and records.
Taxpayers and Congress may incur continued oversight or incidental costs to authorize and run the program through FY2024–FY2028.
Federal agencies, grantees, or recipients could face legal or administrative uncertainty because making the extension retroactive may raise questions about actions taken after Oct 1, 2023 under the assumption the program had expired.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Extends the statutory authorization for the Congressional Award program so the program will not expire until October 1, 2028, with the extension applied retroactively to October 1, 2023. It also removes a statutory requirement about the medals’ material composition and loosens a cross-reference limitation, giving program administrators more flexibility over medal specifications. No new funding is provided. The changes to the termination date are retroactive; the technical edits to medal wording take effect on enactment.
Introduced January 28, 2025 by Cynthia M. Lummis · Last progress December 26, 2025