Sponsors (27)
The bill publicly honors and preserves access to Peace Corps service through a Congressional Gold Medal and numismatic sales, while relying on Mint-funded production and sales to avoid new appropriations—delivering symbolic recognition with limited material benefit but creating modest fiscal and administrative risks.
Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (nearly 250,000) and the Peace Corps are publicly honored via a Congressional Gold Medal and statutory reaffirmation of the agency's mission, raising public recognition of their service.
Members of the public, researchers, and educational/nonprofit institutions gain preserved access to Peace Corps history through display at Peace Corps headquarters and availability of bronze duplicate medals for public purchase.
Medal production and duplicate sales are structured to be funded through the U.S. Mint’s existing mechanisms (Mint fund / numismatic authorities) and sales revenue, reducing the need for new annual appropriations.
Taxpayers and the Mint face financial risk: production, ceremony, and administrative costs are paid from federal resources (Mint fund) and duplicate sales may not fully cover expenses, which could deplete Mint balances or require future transfers.
Returned Peace Corps Volunteers receive only symbolic recognition (no new benefits, services, or funding), so the bill may raise expectations without materially helping volunteers.
Federal staff (Secretary, Mint employees) will incur additional administrative burdens to price, produce, sell, and track medals and duplicates and to perform any required recordkeeping, without new dedicated funding.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Awards a Congressional Gold Medal to Peace Corps Volunteers (1961–2026), allows bronze duplicates to be sold to recoup costs, and treats the medals as numismatic items.
Official title: To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the Peace Corps volunteers, in recognition of their outstanding accomplishments, continuous dedication to world peace and friendship, and their honorable service to the Nation for 65 years.
Introduced September 19, 2025 by Betty McCollum · Last progress September 19, 2025
Authorizes a single Congressional Gold Medal to honor nearly 250,000 Peace Corps Volunteers who served between August 28, 1961, and December 31, 2026, and directs that the medal be presented to the Director of the Peace Corps for public display. It also allows the United States Mint to strike and sell bronze duplicate medals to recoup production costs and treats the medals as numismatic items for federal accounting purposes. The bill adds nonbinding congressional findings and historical language praising the Peace Corps and restating its mission and goals, but it does not create new programs, change Peace Corps authorities, or authorize appropriations beyond routine Mint cost treatment and deposits to the Mint Public Enterprise Fund.