Miracle on Ice Congressional Gold Medal Act
The Miracle on Ice Congressional Gold Medal Act (H.R.452) authorizes Congress to award three Congressional Gold Medals to the 1980 United States Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Team, recognizing their historic “Miracle on Ice” victory over the Soviet Union during the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Games. The bill directs the Secretary of the Treasury to have the medals struck with appropriate insignia, and to distribute the medals to selected members of the team. It also specifies where the medals will be displayed, authorizes the minting of bronze duplicates for sale to help cover costs, and establishes how the medals are treated under federal law, including funding from the U.S. Mint Public Enterprise Fund. The act places the medals within existing federal frameworks for national and numismatic items, and it provides for the proceeds from bronze duplicate sales to go back to the Mint’s funds. It also includes a set of findings detailing the event’s significance and impact on American morale, the sport of hockey, and participation in hockey in the United States.
Key Points
- 1The act authorizes the awarding of three gold medals to the members of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team in recognition of their Miracle on Ice victory.
- 2The Secretary of the Treasury shall design and strike the gold medals with suitable emblems and inscriptions.
- 3Disposition of the medals: one 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.
- 4The Secretary may strike and sell bronze duplicates of the gold medals to cover costs, with proceeds deposited back into the Mint Public Enterprise Fund.
- 5Medals are designated as national medals under 31 U.S.C. and treated as numismatic items for relevant law.