Sponsors (29)
The bill formally honors Freedom House and preserves its legacy with a Congressional Gold Medal and museum display while enabling Mint sales to recover costs, but it is symbolic rather than materially addressing EMS funding or equity and carries modest fiscal and administrative burdens.
Hospitals, EMS workers, students, and communities connected to Freedom House receive formal recognition that reinforces Freedom House’s role as the origin of modern paramedic care and highlights an early successful training model that informed national EMS curricula and best practices.
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture will receive and display a historically significant artifact, preserving the Freedom House legacy for researchers, schools, and the public and supporting educational use nationwide.
Members of the public can buy bronze replicas of the medal, increasing local and national access to a tangible commemoration of Freedom House’s contributions.
Low-income and racially marginalized communities, and policymakers, get symbolic recognition but no new funding or policy remedies—this bill is largely honorary and does not address ongoing EMS equity or service gaps and could divert attention from actionable EMS investments.
There are small administrative and production costs (Treasury/Mint) to produce and present the medal that will be borne from government resources rather than delivering direct programmatic benefits.
Housing the medal at the Smithsonian could limit direct local access in Pittsburgh unless the Museum chooses to lend it to local sites, reducing immediate community benefit in the place where Freedom House operated.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Awards a Congressional Gold Medal honoring Freedom House Ambulance Service, directs minting and donation to the Smithsonian, and permits sale of bronze duplicates to cover costs.
Introduced February 20, 2026 by Summer Lee · Last progress February 20, 2026
Authorizes Congress to present a single Congressional Gold Medal honoring the Freedom House Ambulance Service for its pioneering role in emergency medical services and service to Pittsburgh. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to have the United States Mint strike the medal, and to transfer the gold medal to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture for display and research, with encouragement to make it available for display at other relevant sites. Allows the Mint to produce and sell bronze duplicate medals at prices sufficient to cover production costs, treats the struck medals as numismatic national medals, and permits the Mint to charge the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund for medal production costs while depositing proceeds from duplicate sales back into that fund.