New Act Honors Journalist with Congressional Gold Medal for Fraud Report, Endorsing Specific Findings

This bill, titled the Nick Shirley Congressional Gold Medal Act, is straightforward: it grants the Congressional Gold Medal to investigative journalist Nick Shirley. The core action is ceremonial, recognizing Shirley for his December 2025 investigative report on X (formerly Twitter) which claimed to uncover over $110 million in mass fraud against U.S. taxpayers within the Minnesota Somali population. The bill’s findings specifically state that this reporting led to federal funding being halted for fraudulent businesses in Minnesota, and Congress is honoring Shirley for his "bravery, integrity, and dedication" in uncovering this waste under Governor Tim Walz.

The Honor and the Fine Print

Unlike most legislation that changes policy or funding streams, this bill is about recognition. Section 4 mandates that the Speaker of the House and the President pro tempore of the Senate arrange the presentation of the medal to Nick Shirley. For the public, the most interesting part is Section 5, which allows the Secretary of the Treasury to produce and sell bronze duplicates of the medal. This is standard procedure for these awards, ensuring that the costs of production—labor, materials, and overhead—are covered by the sales, not directly by the general taxpayer. Essentially, if you want a copy of the medal, you pay for it, and that money goes back into the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund (Section 7).

When Congress Endorses a News Report

While the medal itself is a simple honor, Section 2 (Findings) and Section 3 (Sense of Congress) are the parts that get interesting for policy wonks. These sections use the official weight of Congress to validate the specific, politically charged claims made in the journalist’s report. By including the findings that Shirley’s report uncovered "historic levels of fraud" and that this action led to funds being immediately halted, the bill essentially uses legislative text to endorse the report’s conclusions. This is unusual; typically, Congress relies on its own investigative committees or government agencies to confirm such details before embedding them into law as official findings.

The Real-World Impact

For most people, this bill won't change their daily commute or their tax rate. The direct financial impact on the taxpayer is low because the cost of the medal production is offset by the sales of duplicates. However, the bill sets a precedent by using a Congressional Gold Medal Act—a high honor—to officially sanction the findings of a specific, politically focused investigative report. This means that the claims made in that report, which target specific political figures and communities in Minnesota, are now formally cited within federal law as the reason for the award. For the Minnesota politicians and businesses mentioned in the findings, this legislative endorsement adds significant reputational weight to the claims against them, even if the primary purpose of the bill is just to hand out a medal.