Congress·In Committee·H.R. 7317

Golden Thirteen Congressional Gold Medal Act

Golden Thirteen: Congressional Gold Medal

Feb 2·View on Congress.gov·Read full text

Next up: A house committee

This bill is currently in the House Financial Services and House Administration committees. Nothing has happened with this proposal since February 2026. Because no action has occurred for five months, the bill is considered stalled.

Legislative Progress

House

Senate

President

Law

Unlikely to pass

Commemorative bills like this are common but often fail to move forward unless they get support from two-thirds of the House and Senate.

How we got here

This bill’s path across every version that has carried it.

Reintroduced
Reintroduced from H.R. 8008 (118th), which died when its Congress ended.
H.R. 8008 (118th) →

Key Points

This bill would award the Congressional Gold Medal to the Golden Thirteen. These thirteen men were the first Black sailors to become officers in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
In 1944, sixteen Black men were chosen for officer training and finished a sixteen week course in just eight weeks. They earned the highest average grades in Navy history at that time.
Even though all sixteen passed their tests, the Navy only promoted thirteen of them because they did not expect everyone to succeed. This bill honors their service and the history they made.
The gold medal would be given to the Smithsonian Institution to be put on display for the public. The government would also sell bronze copies of the medal to help pay for the cost of making them.

Impact Analysis

Govbase has not yet run an impact analysis on this legislation.

Milestones

2 milestones3 actions

Feb 2, 2026House

Referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on House Administration, 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.

Sent to a congressional committee for expert review. The committee decides whether this bill moves forward.

Feb 2, 2026

Introduced in House

The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.

Feb 2, 2026

Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR E88)

No votes, news coverage, or related bills recorded for this bill yet.

Source Information

Document Type

Congressional Bill

Official Title

Golden Thirteen Congressional Gold Medal Act

Bill NumberHR 7317

Congress119th Congress

ChamberHouse of Representatives

Latest ActionReferred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on House Administration, 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.

Data Sources

Congress.gov

Official legislative information

Read Full Bill Text

Sponsor

Analysis generated by AI. Always verify with official sources.