Miracle on Ice Congressional Gold Medal Act
The Miracle on Ice Congressional Gold Medal Act would authorize the awarding of three Congressional Gold Medals to the members of the 1980 United States Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Team, the so-called "Miracle on Ice" team. The bill recognizes the team’s historic upset of the dominant Soviet Union during the XIII Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid (1980), its impact on American morale during the Cold War, and its lasting influence on the sport of ice hockey in the United States. The act also sets out how the medals would be designed, distributed to specific institutions for display and research, and how duplicate bronze versions could be struck and sold to cover costs. It further designates the medals as national medals and numismatic items for purposes of U.S. law. In short, if enacted, the bill would create and award three Congressional Gold Medals to the 1980 team, specify where the medals will be displayed, authorize bronze duplicates for sale to recoup costs, and place the medals within the federal framework governing national medals and numismatic items.
Key Points
- 1Award authorized: The Speaker of the House and the President pro tempore of the Senate would arrange for the award of 3 Congressional Gold Medals to the members of the 1980 United States Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team in recognition of their achievement at the XIII Olympic Winter Games and the “Miracle on Ice.”
- 2Design and inscription: The Secretary of the Treasury would strike gold medals with suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions to be determined by the Secretary.
- 3Disposition of medals: After award, one gold medal would go to the Lake Placid Olympic Center (Lake Placid, NY), one to the United States Hockey Hall of Fame Museum (Eveleth, MN), and one to the United States Olympic & Paralympic Museum (Colorado Springs, CO) for display and research access.
- 4Bronze duplicates: The Secretary could strike and sell bronze duplicates of the gold medals to cover costs, with proceeds going to offset those costs.
- 5Legal status and funding: The medals would be national medals under the relevant U.S. code, treated as numismatic items. Costs would be charged against the U.S. Mint Public Enterprise Fund, and bronze duplicate proceeds would be deposited back into that fund.