S284-119

Signed into Law

Congressional Award Program Reauthorization Act

119th Congress Introduced Jan 28, 2025

Summary

What This Bill Does

The Congressional Award Program Reauthorization Act extends the Congressional Award Program through October 1, 2028, with retroactive effect to October 1, 2023. The program recognizes young Americans for voluntary public service, personal development, physical fitness, and expedition or exploration activities. The bill also removes statutory language requiring specific medal materials.

Who Benefits and How

Youth participants ages 14 through 23 benefit because the program can continue without an authorization gap. The Congressional Award Foundation benefits from continued authority to administer awards and more flexibility over medal design and production.

Who Bears the Burden and How

The Congressional Award Foundation must continue administering program operations and award production. Medal manufacturers may see changed specifications because the statute no longer prescribes gold-plate over bronze, rhodium over bronze, or bronze materials.

Key Provisions

  • Extends the Congressional Award Program authorization through October 1, 2028.
  • Applies the extension retroactively to October 1, 2023.
  • Removes statutory medal-material requirements.
  • Gives the Congressional Award Foundation more administrative flexibility over medal design.
  • Authorizes continued award operations after the prior October 1, 2023 sunset.
  • Modifies medal-design rules by removing mandatory material specifications.

Evidence Chain:

This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.

At a Glance

What This Bill Does

Reauthorizes the Congressional Award Program through October 1, 2028, extending its sunset date by five years and removing prescriptive medal composition requirements.

Key Policy Areas

Government Operations, Youth Programs

Primary Purpose

Reauthorizes the Congressional Award Program through October 1, 2028, extending its sunset date by five years and removing prescriptive medal composition requirements.

Policy Domains

Government Operations Youth Programs

whole_bill

Identified Gains
  • Congressional Award Foundation
  • Youth participants ages 14 through 23
  • Medal manufacturers
Model: codex-gpt-5 | Version: bill_summary_v2 | Source: enr
Medal manufacturers: ,
Congressional Award Foundation: ,
Youth participants ages 14 through 23: ,
Identified Costs
  • Congressional Award Foundation administrators
  • Congressional Award Board
Model: codex-gpt-5 | Version: bill_summary_v2 | Source: enr
Congressional Award Board: ,
Congressional Award Foundation administrators: ,

Legislative Progress

Signed into Law
Introduced Committee Passed Law
Dec 26, 2025

Became Public Law No: 119-66.

Dec 26, 2025

Signed by President.

Dec 18, 2025

Presented to President.

Dec 15, 2025

Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without …

Dec 15, 2025

On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill …

Dec 15, 2025

Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules …

Dec 15, 2025

Considered as unfinished business. (consideration: CR H5888)

Dec 15, 2025

At the conclusion of debate, the Yeas and Nays were …

Dec 15, 2025

DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate …

Dec 15, 2025

Considered under suspension of the rules. (consideration: CR H5856-5857)

Stakeholder Effects

cui bono?

How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.

Nonprofits
2 mentions across 2 clauses
+2 positive

Congressional Award Foundation

Education
1 mention across 1 clause
+1 positive

Youth participants (ages 14-23)

2/3
sections analyzed
Full impact breakdown
House Roll #335

On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass

Congressional Award Program Reauthorization Act

Passed
370 Yea 22 Nay 41 Not Voting
Dec 15, 2025

Bill Structure & Actor Mappings

Who is "The Secretary" in each section?

Domains
Government Operations Youth Programs
Actor Mappings
"Congressional Award Foundation"
→ administering_entity

We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.

Learn more about our methodology