I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4354 

To affirm the power of the President to revoke the Presidential Medal of 

Freedom awarded to Bill Cosby and to provide for criminal penalties 

for anyone who wears or publicly displays a Presidential Medal of Freedom that has been revoked. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 8, 2016 

Mr. GOSAR (for himself, Mr. BABIN, Mrs. BLACK, Mr. DESANTIS, Mr. JONES, 

Mr. MILLER of Florida, Mr. RIGELL, Mrs. WALORSKI, Mr. HARRIS, Mr. 

BURGESS, Mr. TROTT, Mr. SALMON, Ms. SPEIER, Mr. PALAZZO, Ms. 

MCSALLY, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, and Mr. HUFFMAN) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and 

in addition to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, for 

a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 

consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To affirm the power of the President to revoke the Presidential Medal of Freedom awarded to Bill Cosby and 

to provide for criminal penalties for anyone who wears 

or publicly displays a Presidential Medal of Freedom 

that has been revoked. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SENSE OF CONGRESS THAT THE PRESIDENT 

2 SHOULD REVOKE THE PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL 

3 OF FREEDOM AWARDED TO BILL COSBY. 

4 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

5 (1) Established in 1963 and bestowed by the 

6 President of the United States, the Presidential 

7 Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian honor of 

8 our Nation. 

9 (2) The Presidential Medal of Freedom is 

10 awarded to recipients for ‘‘especially meritorious 

11 contributions to the security or national interests of 

12 the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or 

13 other significant public or private endeavors’’. 

14 (3) William Henry ‘‘Bill’’ Cosby, Jr. (in this 

15 subsection referred to as ‘‘Cosby’’), received the 

16 Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2002. 

17 (4) In recent months, more than 50 women 

18 have come forward and conveyed disturbing accounts 

19 of sexual assault and drugging by Cosby. 

20 (5) The statute of limitations has expired for 

21 many of these incidents, and as a result, the major22 ity of these women will never get their day in court. 

23 (6) According to the New York Daily News, 

24 court documents obtained by the Associated Press 

25 on Monday, July 7, 2015, revealed that ‘‘Cosby ad26 mitted under oath that he bought Quaaludes to dope 


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1 the women he wanted to grope—and slipped the sed2 ative to at least one lady and ‘other people’ ’’. 

3 (7) During a deposition on September 29, 

4 2005, a lawyer, Dolores Troiani, asked Cosby, 

5 ‘‘When you got the Quaaludes, was it in your mind 

6 that you were going to use these Quaaludes for 

7 young women that you wanted to have sex with?’’ 

8 and Cosby answered ‘‘Yes.’’. 

9 (8) On December 30, 2015, prosecutors from 

10 Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, charged Cosby 

11 with three counts of felony aggravated indecent as12 sault for allegedly drugging and sexually assaulting 

13 a young woman in 2004. 

14 (9) The prosecutors noted in an affidavit of 

15 probable cause that ‘‘Cosby obtained seven separate 

16 prescriptions for Quaaludes that he did not person17 ally ingest, nor ever intended to personally ingest’’ 

18 and that ‘‘the victim’s substantially impaired condi19 tion prevented her ability to consent, or even defend 

20 herself from Cosby’s sexual assault’’. 

21 (10) Cosby has admitted to drugging women 

22 with the intention to satisfy his sexual desires, and, 

23 therefore, the Federal Government should not recog24 nize Cosby with an honor like the Presidential Medal 

25 of Freedom. 


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1 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con2 gress that the President should revoke the Presidential 

3 Medal of Freedom awarded to William Henry ‘‘Bill’’ 

4 Cosby, Jr. 

5 SEC. 2. CRIMINAL PENALTY FOR WEARING OR DISPLAYING 

6 A REVOKED PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREE7 DOM. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 33 of title 18, United 

9 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol10 lowing: 

11 ‘‘§ 717. Revoked Presidential Medal of Freedom 

12 ‘‘Whoever, with the intent to defraud any person, 

13 wears or publicly displays a Presidential Medal of Free14 dom that has been declared to be revoked by the President 

15 shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more 

16 than one year, or both.’’. 

17 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

18 at the beginning of chapter 33 of title 18, United States 

19 Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to 

20 section 716 the following: 

‘‘717. Revoked Presidential Medal of Freedom.’’. 

Æ 


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