I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 485 
To posthumously award a Congressional Gold Medal to Muhammad Ali, 
in recognition of his contributions to the United States. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 16, 2025 
Mr. CARSON (for himself, Ms. ADAMS, Mr. BISHOP, Ms. BROWNLEY, Mr. CAR-
TER of Louisiana, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. COHEN, 
Mr. COSTA, Ms. DAVIDS of Kansas, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mrs. DINGELL, 
Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. EVANS of Pennsylvania, Mr. FROST, Mr. GREEN of 
Texas, Mrs. HAYES, Ms. NORTON, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. JOHN-
SON of Georgia, Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE, Mr. KEATING, Ms. KELLY of Illi-
nois, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Ms. LEE of 
Pennsylvania, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. MCGARVEY, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mrs. 
MCIVER, Mr. MEEKS, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Mr. MRVAN, Mr. 
MULLIN, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Ms. PRESSLEY, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. 
STRICKLAND, Mr. THANEDAR, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Ms. TLAIB, 
Mr. TORRES of New York, and Mr. VARGAS) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 
A BILL 
To posthumously award a Congressional Gold Medal to Mu-
hammad Ali, in recognition of his contributions to the 
United States. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Muhammad Ali Con-
gressional Gold Medal Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., on Janu-
ary 17, 1942, in Louisville, Kentucky, Muhammad 
Ali was the first child of Cassius, Sr., and Odessa 
Clay. 
(2) Muhammad Ali was one of the most cele-
brated athletes of the 20th century. He produced 
some of the greatest sports memories in the United 
States, from winning a gold medal at the 1960 Sum-
mer Olympics to lighting the Olympic torch at the 
1996 Summer Olympics. 
(3) After an impressive amateur career, during 
which he won 2 National AAU light heavyweight ti-
tles, Muhammad Ali became the first professional 
boxer in history to capture the heavyweight title 3 
separate times. 
(4) On April 28, 1967, he was stripped of his 
boxing title and barred from competing for being a 
conscientious objector to the war in Vietnam on reli-
gious and moral grounds. However, following a 
unanimous decision by the Supreme Court of the 
United States in 1971, Muhammad Ali’s conscien-
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tious objector status was confirmed, his boxing li-
cense was reinstated, and he was cleared of any 
wrongdoing. 
(5) As an African American and a Muslim who 
lived in an era that continued to question his civil 
rights, Muhammad Ali battled issues of race and re-
ligion, and received recognition as one of the cham-
pions of the Civil Rights Movement in the United 
States. 
(6) Muhammad Ali was the recipient of many 
awards for his sporting prowess and his support of 
racial harmony, including the Dr. Martin Luther 
King Memorial Award, the Spirit of America Award, 
the Amnesty International Lifetime Achievement 
Award, the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage, the Es-
sence Living Legend Award, the Rainbow Coalition 
Lifetime Achievement Award, the XNBA Human 
Spirit Award, the Presidential Citizens Medal, and 
the Presidential Medal of Freedom. 
(7) Muhammad Ali was acknowledged by many 
organizations for his achievements both inside and 
outside the boxing ring, including being crowned 
‘‘Sportsman of the Century’’ by Sports Illustrated, 
being named ‘‘Athlete of the Century’’ by GQ maga-
zine, being named ‘‘Sports Personality of the Cen-
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tury’’ by the British Broadcasting Corporation, 
being named ‘‘Kentucky Athlete of the Century’’ by 
the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame, being named 
‘‘Kentuckian of the Century’’ by the State of Ken-
tucky, being named ‘‘Louisvillian of the Century’’ by 
the Advertising Club of Louisville, being named 
‘‘Boxer of the Century’’ by the World Sports Awards 
of the Century, being recognized by the Inter-
national Boxing Hall of Fame, and receiving hon-
orary doctorate degrees from Muhlenberg College 
and Princeton University. 
(8) Muhammad Ali received the prestigious 
Otto Hahn Peace Medal in Gold from the United 
Nations Association of Germany for his work with 
the United Nations and the Civil Rights Movement 
in the United States. 
(9) Muhammad Ali was selected by the Cali-
fornia Bicentennial Foundation for the U.S. Con-
stitution for personifying the vitality of the Bill of 
Rights in various high-profile activities. 
(10) Despite having been diagnosed with Par-
kinson’s disease in the early 1980s, Muhammad Ali 
dedicated his life to the cause of universal human 
rights and freedom. His commitment to equal justice 
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and peace touched the lives of hundreds of thou-
sands of people worldwide. 
(11) President Jimmy Carter asked Muhammad 
Ali to meet with African leaders in Tanzania, Kenya, 
Nigeria, Liberia, and Senegal as part of the diplo-
matic efforts of President Carter to promote human 
rights in the 1980s. 
(12) In 1990, Muhammad Ali traveled to the 
Middle East to seek the release of United States and 
British hostages that were being held as human 
shields in the first Gulf War. As a result of his 
intervention, 15 United States hostages were freed 
on December 2nd of that year. 
(13) In 1998, Muhammad Ali was chosen as 
the ‘‘U.N. Messenger of Peace’’. 
(14) Several Presidents of the United States 
recognized Muhammad Ali, including President 
George W. Bush who, on November 17, 2002, called 
him ‘‘a man of peace’’ and stated that ‘‘across the 
world, billions of people know Muhammad Ali as a 
brave, compassionate, and charming man, and the 
American people are proud to call Muhammad Ali 
one of our own’’, President Bill Clinton who stated 
that Muhammad Ali ‘‘captured the world’s imagina-
tion and its heart. Outside the ring, Muhammad Ali 
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has dedicated his life to working for children, feed-
ing the hungry, supporting his faith, and standing 
up for racial equality. He always fought for a just 
and more humane world, breaking down barriers 
here in America and around the world. There is no 
telling how many tens of millions of people had their 
hearts swell with pride and their eyes swell with 
tears in 1996 when Muhammad Ali lit the Olympic 
torch, because we know, now and forever, he is the 
greatest’’, President Jimmy Carter who cited Mu-
hammad Ali as ‘‘Mr. International Friendship’’, and 
President Barack Obama who, as a Senator, had a 
framed picture of Muhammad Ali hanging in his of-
fice, and before announcing his intentions to run for 
President, Obama visited with Muhammad Ali at the 
Ali Center in Louisville, Kentucky. 
(15) Muhammad Ali encouraged humanity 
through his perseverance and the support of thou-
sands of people. He helped such organizations as the 
Chicago-based adoption agency, The Cradle, the 
Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Special Olympics’ or-
ganization, Best Buddies; and Herbert E. Birch 
Services, an organization that runs a school for 
handicapped children and young adults, in addition 
to a summer camp for children with AIDS. 
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(16) Muhammad Ali and his wife Lonnie were 
the founding directors of the Muhammad Ali Par-
kinson Center in Phoenix, Arizona, and helped raise 
over $50,000,000 for Parkinson’s research. The 
Center’s mission is to provide excellence in treat-
ment, research, and education for patients and fami-
lies affected by Parkinson’s disease and other move-
ment disorders, regardless of their ability to pay. 
(17) Muhammad Ali was an inspiration to 
countless individuals with Parkinson’s disease, in-
cluding members of the Rock Steady Boxing Foun-
dation in Indianapolis, Indiana, which was founded 
to give people with Parkinson’s disease hope by im-
proving their quality of life using boxing for fitness. 
(18) Muhammad Ali was one of the founding 
members of Athletes for Hope, an organization cre-
ated by a few very successful athletes of exemplary 
character who have a deep commitment to charitable 
and community causes. 
(19) Muhammad Ali also established the Mu-
hammad Ali Center in his hometown of Louisville, 
Kentucky, which promotes respect, hope, and under-
standing, and inspires people everywhere to be as 
great as they can be. A visitor of the Muhammad Ali 
Center experiences the ‘‘hows’’ of Ali’s life: How he 
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found the courage, the dedication, and the discipline 
to become a world champion, how he found the con-
viction to stand up for what he believed, and how he 
turned his passion for excellence in the ring to a 
passion for peace on the world stage. 
(20) Like Muhammad Ali himself, the Muham-
mad Ali Center focuses on what brings individuals 
together, not what sets them apart, and is a ‘‘global 
gathering place’’ to which people can come, both on-
line and in person, to learn, share, and celebrate our 
commonalities as human beings and to formulate 
ways of advancing humanity. 
(21) Muhammad Ali helped to provide more 
than 22,000,000 aid packets to assist people in 
need, and until the last years of his life, he traveled, 
on average, more than 200 days per year for human-
itarian causes. 
(22) Muhammad Ali, known simply as ‘‘the 
greatest’’, transcended the glamour and glory of 
being a sports champion to become not only one of 
the greatest sports figures, but one of the greatest 
role models of our time. 
(23) On June 3, 2016, Muhammad Ali died at 
the age of 74. 
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SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 
(a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 
the House of Representatives and the President pro tem-
pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 
for the presentation, on behalf of Congress, of a gold 
medal of appropriate design to Muhammad Ali, in recogni-
tion of his contributions to the United States. 
(b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For the purpose of the 
presentation described in subsection (a), the Secretary of 
the Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’) 
shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, 
and inscriptions to be determined by the Secretary. 
(c) TRANSFER OF MEDAL AFTER PRESENTATION.— 
Following the presentation of the gold medal in honor of 
Muhammad Ali under subsection (a), the gold medal shall 
be given to his wife, Lonnie Ali. 
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 
bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3 at 
a price sufficient to cover the cost of the medals, including 
labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead ex-
penses. 
SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 
(a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—Medals struck under this 
Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 
31, United States Code. 
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(b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of sections 
5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 
struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 
items. 
SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF 
SALE. 
(a) AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS.—There is 
authorized to be charged against the United States Mint 
Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be nec-
essary to pay for the costs of the medals struck under 
this Act. 
(b) PROCEEDS OF SALE.—Amounts received from the 
sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 
4 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public 
Enterprise Fund. 
Æ 
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