[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2652 Engrossed in Senate (ES)]
<DOC>
115th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 2652
_______________________________________________________________________
AN ACT
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Stephen Michael Gleason.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Stephen Michael Gleason
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.
(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 Cougars 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 loving support
of his wife, Michel, began a mission to show that patients can
not only live but thrive after a diagnosis of ALS and
established The Gleason Initiative 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 become 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 adventures they never thought possible after their
diagnosis.
(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 heralded at the Sundance Film Festival and premiered
across the country with Variety calling the production ``an
emotional powerhouse''. The documentary won several awards,
including the 2016 Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics
Association Award for Best Documentary.
(12) Steve was named one of two Sports Illustrated's
Inspirations of the Year in 2014, has been a keynote speaker
for Microsoft and at two United Nations sponsored Social
Innovation Summits, and received the 2015 George S. Halas
Courage Award, given to a NFL player, coach or staff member who
overcomes the most adversity to succeed.
(13) Steve helped advocate for the Steve Gleason 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 ALS
have access to speech generating devices regardless 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, patients, 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 institutions,
1,000 patients and 20,000,000,000,000 data points that are
important to the project and that will define the unknown
pathways that will lead to treatments or finally a cure.
(15) In 2015, Steve and Microsoft worked together to create
a method for people who are completely paralyzed to navigate
their power wheelchairs with their eyes. Today, Steve,
Microsoft and all wheelchair manufacturers are working
collaboratively to make it widely available to all who need
this technology. In addition, Microsoft has also made eye
tracking 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 accomplishment, becoming
parents to their son Rivers.
(17) 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.
(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 ``Secretary'') shall strike the gold medal with
suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the
Secretary.
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.
Under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, 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 medals for purposes
of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.
Passed the Senate June 14, 2018.
Attest:
Secretary.
115th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 2652
_______________________________________________________________________
AN ACT
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Stephen Michael Gleason.