New Bill Authorizes Congressional Gold Medal for Donald J. Trump, Citing Hypothetical 2025 Peace Deals

The Donald J. Trump Congressional Gold Medal Act is exactly what it sounds like: a bill that authorizes Congress to present a Congressional Gold Medal to former President Donald J. Trump. The medal is specifically intended to recognize his “extraordinary peacemaking efforts” globally, particularly in facilitating a major peace agreement between Israel and Hamas, which the bill anticipates will occur in October 2025 (Sec. 2).

The Legislative Rationale: A Look into the Future

What makes this bill stand out is Section 2, the “Findings” section, which lays out the rationale for the award. Instead of relying solely on past accomplishments, this section explicitly credits the former President with securing several high-profile peace deals and ceasefires that the bill assumes will happen in 2025. These include brokering peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, securing a ceasefire between Iran and Israel, and resolving the Nile River dam conflict between Egypt and Ethiopia—all within a tight window in the summer and fall of 2025. Essentially, Congress is using the legislative process to formally acknowledge diplomatic achievements that are still speculative, making the award based partly on a political forecast.

The Medal and the Mint: How the Award Gets Paid For

For most people, the interesting part isn't the award itself, but how the government handles the logistics and cost. The bill tasks the Secretary of the Treasury with striking the gold medal, with the Speaker of the House and the President pro tempore of the Senate overseeing the presentation (Sec. 3). But here’s the smart administrative detail: the Secretary is also authorized to produce and sell bronze duplicates of the medal to the public (Sec. 4).

Crucially, the price tag for these bronze copies must be set high enough to cover all production costs—labor, materials, dies, and overhead. The money used to pay for the initial production comes from the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund, and all revenue generated from selling the bronze duplicates goes right back into that fund (Sec. 6). This means the award is designed to be self-funding; taxpayers aren't directly footing the bill for the production costs. The medals are also officially designated as “numismatic items” (Sec. 5), meaning they’re treated as collectible coins for sale purposes, which is standard practice for commemorative medals sold by the Mint.