I 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5499 
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Stephen Michael Gleason. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 12, 2018 
Mr. RICHMOND (for himself, Mrs. MCMORRIS RODGERS, and Mr. SCALISE) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Fi-
nancial Services 
A BILL 
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Stephen Michael 
Gleason. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stephen Michael Glea-
son Congressional Gold Medal Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) Stephen ‘‘Steve’’ Gleason was born March 
19, 1977, in Spokane, Washington to Mike and Gail 
Gleason. 
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(2) Steve attended Gonzaga Preparatory School 
for high school where he excelled as both a football 
and baseball player. 
(3) In 1995, Steve enrolled at Washington 
State University where he was a 2-sport athlete for 
the baseball and football teams and helped the Cou-
gars football team advance to the 1997 Rose Bowl. 
(4) In 2000, Steve signed a professional football 
contract with the Indianapolis Colts of the National 
Football League as an undrafted free agent but 
later joined the New Orleans Saints in November of 
that same season. 
(5) Steve would go on to play 7 more seasons 
as a member of the New Orleans Saints. 
(6) Steve will always be remembered for his 
blocked punt on September 25, 2006, against the 
Atlanta Falcons, the night the Louisiana Superdome 
reopened for the first time after Hurricane Katrina 
in a game the Saints would win 23 to 3. 
(7) In January, 2011 Steve was diagnosed with 
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS, considered a 
terminal neuro-muscular disease. 
(8) Following his diagnosis, Steve, with the lov-
ing support of his wife, Michel, began a mission to 
show that patients can not only live but thrive after 
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a diagnosis of ALS and established The Gleason Ini-
tiative Foundation also known simply as ‘‘Team 
Gleason’’. 
(9) At the time of his diagnosis, however, Steve 
said there will be ‘‘No White Flags’’, which has be-
come the mantra of Team Gleason. 
(10) The Gleason Initiative Foundation helps 
provide individuals with neuromuscular diseases or 
injuries with leading edge technology, equipment and 
services, raises global awareness about ALS to find 
solutions and an end to the disease, and has helped 
hundreds of people with ALS experience life adven-
tures they never thought possible after their diag-
nosis. 
(11) Steve’s story and mission have been told 
by the NFL Network, ESPN, HBO, ABC, CBS, 
CNN, and many local media outlets, as well as in a 
2016 documentary titled ‘‘Gleason’’, which was her-
alded at the Sundance Film Festival and premiered 
across the country with Variety calling the produc-
tion ‘‘an emotional powerhouse’’. The documentary 
won several awards, including the 2016 Washington, 
D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best 
Documentary. 
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(12) Steve was named 1 of 2 Sports 
Illustrated’s Inspirations of the Year in 2014, has 
been a keynote speaker for Microsoft and at 2 
United Nations sponsored Social Innovation Sum-
mits, and received the 2015 George S. Halas Cour-
age Award, given to a NFL player, coach or staff 
member who overcomes the most adversity to suc-
ceed. 
(13) Steve helped advocate for the Steve Glea-
son Act of 2015 (Public Law 114–40; 129 Stat. 
441), and the Steve Gleason Enduring Voices Act of 
2017, H.R. 2465, 115th Congress (2017), which 
permanently ensures people living with diseases such 
as ALS have access to speech generating devices re-
gardless of their setting, whether at home or a 
healthcare institution. 
(14) In 2014, Steve and Team Gleason hosted 
a global summit to bring together researchers, pa-
tients, caregivers, and all ALS stakeholders to create 
a plan to ultimately end ALS. That summit resulted 
in the single largest coordinated and collaborative 
ALS research project in the world, Answer ALS, 
which brings together nearly two dozen research in-
stitutions, 1,000 patients and 20,000,000,000,000 
data points that are important to the project and 
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that will define the unknown pathways that will lead 
to treatments or finally a cure. 
(15) In 2015, Steve and Microsoft worked to-
gether to create a method for people who are com-
pletely paralyzed to navigate their power wheelchairs 
with their eyes. Today, Steve, Microsoft and all 
wheelchair manufacturers are working collabo-
ratively to make it widely available to all who need 
this technology. Microsoft has also made eye track-
ing technology part of all Windows 10 products 
across the globe. 
(16) In 2011, 10 months after his diagnosis, 
Steve and Michel made their most significant accom-
plishment, becoming parents to their son Rivers. 
(17) In addition to serving as advocates for all 
who are suffering from other debilitating neuro-
logical diseases, Steve and Michel Gleason continue 
to fight to find a solution for ALS so they can share 
many years together and as parents to Rivers. 
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 
(a) AWARD
AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of the 
House of Representatives and the President pro tempore 
of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements for the 
award, on behalf of the Congress, of a single gold medal 
of appropriate design to Stephen Michael Gleason. 
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(b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For the purposes of the 
award referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the 
Treasury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Sec-
retary’’) shall strike the gold medal with suitable emblems, 
devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec-
retary. 
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 
Under such regulations as the Secretary may pre-
scribe, the Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 
bronze of the gold medal struck under section 3, at a price 
sufficient to cover the costs of the medals, including labor, 
materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses. 
SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 
Medals struck pursuant to this Act are national med-
als for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States 
Code. 
Æ 
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