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 Free-
dom that has been revoked.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 com-
mittee concerned 
A BILL 
To affirm the power of the President to revoke the Presi-
dential 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that has been revoked. 
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. SENSE OF CONGRESS THAT THE PRESIDENT 
SHOULD REVOKE THE PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL 
OF FREEDOM AWARDED TO BILL COSBY. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) Established in 1963 and bestowed by the 
President of the United States, the Presidential 
Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian honor of 
our Nation. 
(2) The Presidential Medal of Freedom is 
awarded to recipients for ‘‘especially meritorious 
contributions to the security or national interests of 
the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or 
other significant public or private endeavors’’. 
(3) William Henry ‘‘Bill’’ Cosby, Jr. (in this 
subsection referred to as ‘‘Cosby’’), received the 
Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2002. 
(4) In recent months, more than 50 women 
have come forward and conveyed disturbing accounts 
of sexual assault and drugging by Cosby. 
(5) The statute of limitations has expired for 
many of these incidents, and as a result, the major-
ity of these women will never get their day in court. 
(6) According to the New York Daily News, 
court documents obtained by the Associated Press 
on Monday, July 7, 2015, revealed that ‘‘Cosby ad-
mitted under oath that he bought Quaaludes to dope 
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the women he wanted to grope—and slipped the sed-
ative to at least one lady and ‘other people’ ’’. 
(7) During a deposition on September 29, 
2005, a lawyer, Dolores Troiani, asked Cosby, 
‘‘When you got the Quaaludes, was it in your mind 
that you were going to use these Quaaludes for 
young women that you wanted to have sex with?’’ 
and Cosby answered ‘‘Yes.’’. 
(8) On December 30, 2015, prosecutors from 
Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, charged Cosby 
with three counts of felony aggravated indecent as-
sault for allegedly drugging and sexually assaulting 
a young woman in 2004. 
(9) The prosecutors noted in an affidavit of 
probable cause that ‘‘Cosby obtained seven separate 
prescriptions for Quaaludes that he did not person-
ally ingest, nor ever intended to personally ingest’’ 
and that ‘‘the victim’s substantially impaired condi-
tion prevented her ability to consent, or even defend 
herself from Cosby’s sexual assault’’. 
(10) Cosby has admitted to drugging women 
with the intention to satisfy his sexual desires, and, 
therefore, the Federal Government should not recog-
nize Cosby with an honor like the Presidential Medal 
of Freedom. 
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(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that the President should revoke the Presidential 
Medal of Freedom awarded to William Henry ‘‘Bill’’ 
Cosby, Jr. 
SEC. 2. CRIMINAL PENALTY FOR WEARING OR DISPLAYING 
A REVOKED PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREE-
DOM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 33 of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘§ 717. Revoked Presidential Medal of Freedom 
‘‘Whoever, with the intent to defraud any person, 
wears or publicly displays a Presidential Medal of Free-
dom that has been declared to be revoked by the President 
shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more 
than one year, or both.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 
at the beginning of chapter 33 of title 18, United States 
Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to 
section 716 the following: 
‘‘717. Revoked Presidential Medal of Freedom.’’. 
Æ 
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