Congress honors pioneering Black paramedics who revolutionized emergency care
H.R. 7623 — Freedom House Ambulance Service Congressional Gold Medal Act · Filed by Summer Lee (D-PA) · 29 cosponsors · Introduced Feb 20, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill authorizes Congress to award a single gold medal to the Freedom House Ambulance Service, a pioneering 1960s Pittsburgh emergency medical service that trained the first professional paramedics in the United States and served a predominantly Black neighborhood. The medal will be housed at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the U.S. Mint may produce and sell bronze duplicates to recover costs.
Why we flagged it
This is a straightforward Congressional Gold Medal bill honoring a defunct but historically significant emergency medical service. It combines civil rights recognition with medical history commemoration, with no hidden policy mechanisms or regulatory changes.
What the text implies
- Medal placement at NMAAHC elevates Freedom House's civil rights significance alongside its medical innovation legacy, potentially increasing scholarly and public attention to the intersection of racial equity and healthcare access in 1960s America.
- Authorization for bronze duplicate sales creates a revenue stream for the U.S. Mint Public Enterprise Fund, though likely modest given typical commemorative medal sales volumes.
Who it affects
This is a commemorative honor for a historically significant civil rights and medical innovation achievement with no direct fiscal burden on citizens (costs are covered by Mint sales of duplicate medals). It recognizes an institution that advanced both emergency medical care and economic opportunity for a marginalized community.
Who stands to gain
- U.S. Mint (modest revenue from duplicate medal sales)
Named in the bill
Freedom House Ambulance Service, National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution, U.S. Mint, U.S. Mint Public Enterprise Fund, University of Pittsburgh, UPMC Presbyterian, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Dr. Peter Safar, Dr. Nancy Caroline, Philip Hallen, Morton Coleman — and 1 more
Where it stands
29 cosponsors: 26 Democrats, 3 Republicans.
- Feb 20, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Feb 20, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on House Administration and House Committee on Financial Services · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on House Administration…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
2 lobbying clients named this bill on 3 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Mar 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $1,002,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 10 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 41% of bills with at least one filing.
Summer Lee, the sponsor, reported $231,154 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc — $940,000 on 1 filing
- National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (naemt) — $62,000 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the full bill text on Jul 9, 2026; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Mar 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Congress honors pioneering Black paramedics who revolutionized emergency care” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr7623 Report an error
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