Sponsors (301)
Authorizes three Congressional Gold Medals for the 1980 U.S. Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team, directs placement in three museums, and allows sale of bronze duplicates to cover costs.
Official title: To award 3 Congressional Gold Medals to the members of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Team, in recognition of their extraordinary achievement at the 1980 Winter Olympics where, being comprised of amateur collegiate players, they defeated the dominant Soviet hockey team in the historic "Miracle on Ice", revitalizing American morale at the height of the Cold War, inspiring generations and transforming the sport of hockey in the United States.
Introduced January 15, 2025 by Peter Stauber · Last progress December 12, 2025
The bill formally honors and preserves a historic U.S. sports achievement and enables cost-recovered commemorative medal sales and clearer legal status for collectors, at the trade-off of small direct Treasury costs, modest administrative burdens, and a risk that Mint funds or taxpayers could indirectly absorb shortfalls or diverted resources.
All Americans: the bill officially honors the 1980 U.S. Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Team, promoting national pride and preserving a piece of cultural heritage.
Students, researchers, and museum visitors: the team's gold medals will be preserved and publicly displayed at three museums, supporting historical access and educational use.
Collectors, museums, and taxpayers: the medals are legally recognized as national/numismatic items and the Mint can recover production costs (with proceeds returned to the Mint's Public Enterprise Fund), clarifying legal status for collectors and reducing the need for new appropriations.
Taxpayers and the Treasury: striking and presenting three official gold medals will produce a small direct cost to the Treasury.
Taxpayers and Mint-funded programs: there is a modest financial risk that administrative/start-up costs, unsold replica inventory, or returns to the Mint's Public Enterprise Fund could indirectly raise taxpayer burden or divert resources from other Mint programs.
Federal employees and the issuing agency: the Secretary/agency gains added administrative responsibilities to manage production and sales without additional appropriations, creating workload and oversight costs.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Authorizes Congress to have three Congressional Gold Medals struck honoring the 1980 U.S. Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team and directs those medals be placed in three named museums. Allows the U.S. Mint to produce and sell bronze duplicates to cover costs and designates the medals as national numismatic items with proceeds credited to the Mint’s Public Enterprise Fund. Covers who receives the three original medals (Lake Placid Olympic Center; U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Museum; U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum), cost-recovery sale of bronze duplicates, and administrative treatment and accounting for the medals and proceeds.