Miracle on Ice Congressional Gold Medal Act
The Miracle on Ice Congressional Gold Medal Act would authorize the award of three Congressional Gold Medals to the members of the 1980 United States Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team (the “Miracle on Ice” team) in recognition of their historic upset of the Soviet Union at the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Games. The bill directs the Secretary of the Treasury to strike the gold medals and assigns three institutions to receive and display them: the Lake Placid Olympic Center, the United States Hockey Hall of Fame Museum in Eveleth, Minnesota, and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Museum in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It also allows the mint to strike and sell bronze duplicates to cover costs, and places the medals and related activities under U.S. law governing national medals and numismatic items, with funding drawn from the U.S. Mint Public Enterprise Fund rather than general appropriations. In short, the bill formalizes a high civilian honor for the 1980 team, specifies where the medals will be displayed, permits bronze duplicates for sale to recoup costs, and uses mint funds to pay for the awards. It emphasizes the event’s historic impact on American morale and the sport of hockey.
Key Points
- 1Purpose and recognition
- 2- Authorizes awarding 3 gold medals to the members of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team for their Miracle on Ice achievement and its national impact.
- 3Medal design and display
- 4- The Secretary of the Treasury will strike the gold medals with appropriate emblems and inscriptions; three medals are created and distributed to three institutions for display and research access.
- 5Disposition of medals
- 6- One medal goes to the Lake Placid Olympic Center, one to the United States Hockey Hall of Fame Museum in Eveleth, Minnesota, and one to the United States Olympic & Paralympic Museum in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
- 7Bronze duplicates and costs
- 8- The Secretary may strike and sell bronze duplicates to cover costs, ensuring the program is funded through the Minting process.
- 9Legal status and funding
- 10- Medals are treated as national medals under title 31, and as numismatic items; costs are charged against the U.S. Mint Public Enterprise Fund, with proceeds from bronze duplicates deposited back into that fund.