WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), today announced his bipartisan legislation (H.R. 5499) to award Washington state native, ALS champion, and former New Orleans Saints star Steve Gleason with the Congressional Gold Medal has gained 190 cosponsors in two weeks and is now supported by 246 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, including Representatives Steve Scalise (R-LA), Cathy McMorris Rogers (R-WA), and Cedric Richmond (D-LA).
The bill (S. 2652) passed the Senate unanimously in June after garnering 73 cosponsors in just two months. It must pass the House by the end of the month in order to become law.
“Through his work to help others who are disabled, Steve Gleason has changed so many lives for the better,” said Dr. Cassidy. “The Senate unanimously supported legislation to honor Steve with the Congressional Gold Medal, and as more House members hear about Steve’s work they are supporting the bill too. I urge the House to pass it this month.”
On Thanksgiving during the New Orleans Saints game, NBC aired a look at Steve Gleason’s journey to becoming a father while fighting ALS.
Cassidy’s bipartisan legislation would recognize Gleason for his work through the Gleason Initiative Foundation to provide individuals with neuromuscular diseases or injuries with the assistance they need to thrive, his advocacy for federal legislation ensuring people living with diseases such as ALS have access to speech generating devices, and his leadership in bringing together the single largest coordinated and collaborative ALS research project in the world.
The Congressional Gold Medal is the highest civilian honor Congress can bestow. Previous recipients of the Congressional Gold Medal include Orville and Wilbur Wright, Thomas Edison, Robert Frost, Bob Hope, Walt Disney, Roberto Clemente, Sir Winston Churchill, John Wayne, the 1980 U.S. Summer Olympic Team, Joe Louis, Jesse Owens, Ruth and Billy Graham, Frank Sinatra, Mother Teresa, Rosa Parks, Jackie Robinson, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, Byron Nelson, Arnold Palmer, and Jack Nicklaus.
A full list of House members who have agreed to cosponsor the bill is below:
Alabama
Robert Aderholt (R-AL)
Mo Brooks (R-AL)
Bradley Byrne (R-AL)
Martha Roby (R-AL)
Mike Rogers (R-AL)
Terri Sewell (D-AL)
Alaska
Don Young (R-AK)
American Samoa
Aumua Amata Radewagen (R-American Samoa)
Arizona
Andy Biggs (R-AZ)
Paul Gosar (R-AZ)
Debbie Lesko (R-AZ)
Martha McSally (R-AZ)
David Schweikert (R-AZ)
Arkansas
Rick Crawford (R-AR)
French Hill (R-AR)
Bruce Westerman (R-AR)
Steve Womack (R-AR)
California
Karen Bass (D-CA)
Ken Calvert (R-CA)
Jeff Denham (R-CA)
Duncan Hunter (R-CA)
Darrell Issa (R-CA)
Doug LaMalfa (R-CA)
Barbara Lee (D-CA)
Tom McClintock (R-CA)
Devin Nunes (R-CA)
Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA)
Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA)
Ed Royce (R-CA)
Eric Swalwell (D-CA)
David Valadao (R-CA)
Mimi Walters (R-CA)
Colorado
Mike Coffman (R-CO)
Doug Lamborn (R-CO)
Ed Perlmutter (D-CO)
Scott Tipton (R-CO)
Connecticut
John Larson (D-CT)
Delaware
Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE)
District of Columbia
Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC)
Florida
Gus Bilirakis (R-FL)
Vern Buchanan (R-FL)
Carlos Curbelo (R-FL)
Val Demings (D-FL)
Ted Deutch (D-FL)
Neal Dunn (R-FL)
Matt Gaetz (R-FL)
Al Lawson (D-FL)
Bill Posey (R-FL)
Francis Rooney (R-FL)
Tom Rooney (R-FL)
Illeana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL)
Dennis Ross (R-FL)
John Rutherford (R-FL)
Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL)
Daniel Webster (R-FL)
Frederica Wilson (D-FL)
Ted Yoho (R-FL)
Georgia
Rick Allen (R-GA)
Sanford Bishop (D-GA)
Buddy Carter (R-GA)
Doug Collins (R-GA)
Drew Ferguson (R-GA)
Tom Graves (R-GA)
Jody Hice (R-GA)
Hank Johnson (D-GA)
John Lewis (D-GA)
Barry Loudermilk (R-GA)
Austin Scott (R-GA)
David Scott (D-GA)
Iowa
Steve King (R-IA)
Idaho
Raul Labrador (R-ID)
Mike Simpson (R-ID)
Illinois
Mike Bost (R-IL)
Rodney Davis (R-IL)
Danny Davis (D-IL)
Randy Hultgren (R-IL)
Robin Kelly (D-IL)
Darin LaHood (R-IL)
Daniel Lipinski (D-IL)
Peter Roskam (R-IL)
Bobby Rush (D-IL)
Brad Schneider (D-IL)
John Shimkus (R-IL)
Indiana
Susan Brooks (R-IN)
Larry Buschon (R-IN)
Andre Carson (D-IN)
Luke Messer (R-IN)
Todd Rokita (R-IN)
Jackie Walorski (R-IN)
Kansas
Lynn Jenkins (R-KS)
Roger Marshall (R-KS)
Kevin Yoder (R-KS)
Kentucky
Andy Barr (R-KY)
James Comer (R-KY)
Brett Guthrie (R-KY)
Hal Rogers (R-KY)
Louisiana
Ralph Abraham (R-LA)
Garret Graves (R-LA)
Clay Higgins (R-LA)
Mike Johnson (R-LA)
Maryland
Anthony Brown (D-MD)
Andy Harris (R-MD)
Maine
Bruce Poliquin (R-ME)
Michigan
Jack Bergman (D-MI)
Debbie Dingell (D-MI)
Bill Huizenga (R-MI)
Brenda Jones (D-MI)
Brenda Lawrence (D-MI)
Paul Mitchell (R-MI)
John Moolenaar (R-MI)
David Trott (R-MI)
Fred Upton (R-MI)
Tim Walberg (R-MI)
Minnesota
Tom Emmer (R-MN)
Jason Lewis (R-MN)
Erik Paulsen (R-MN)
Collin Peterson (D-MN)
Mississippi
Gregg Harper (R-MS)
Trent Kelly (R-MS)
Steven Palazzo (R-MS)
Bennie Thompson (D-MS)
Missouri
William Lacy Clay (D-MO)
Vicky Hartzler (R-MO)
Billy Long (R-MO)
Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO)
Jason Smith (R-MO)
Montana
Greg Gianforte (R-MT)
Nebraska
Don Bacon (R-NE)
Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE)
New Jersey
Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ)
Leonard Lance (R-NJ)
Tom MacArthur (R-NJ)
Donald Payne, Jr. (D-NJ)
Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ)
Nevada
Mark Amodei (R-NV)
New York
Yvette Clarke (D-NY)
Chris Collins (R-NY)
Dan Donovan (R-NY)
Adriano Espaillat (D-NY)
Dwight Evans (D-NY)
John Faso (R-NY)
Brian Higgins (D-NY)
Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY)
John Katko (R-NY)
Peter King (R-NY)
Gregory Meeks (D-NY)
Elise Stefanik (R-NY)
Thomas Suozzi (D-NY)
Claudia Tenney (R-NY)
Lee Zeldin (R-NY)
North Carolina
Alma Adams (D-NC)
Ted Budd (R-NC)
G.K. Butterfield (D-NC)
George Holding (R-NC)
Richard Hudson (R-NC)
David Price (D-NC)
David Rouzer (R-NC)
Mark Walker (R-NC)
North Dakota
Kevin Cramer (R-ND)
Ohio
Troy Balderson (R-OH)
Joyce Beatty (D-OH)
Steve Chabot (R-OH)
Marcia Fudge (D-OH)
Bob Gibbs (R-OH)
Bill Johnson (R-OH)
David Joyce (R-OH)
Bob Latta (R-OH)
Jim Renacci (R-OH)
Steve Stivers (R-OH)
Mike Turner (R-OH)
Brad Wenstrup (R-OH)
Oklahoma
Tom Cole (R-OK)
Kevin Hern (R-OK)
Frank Lucas (R-OK)
Markwayne Mullin (R-OK)
Oregon
Earl Blumenauer (D-OR)
Greg Walden (R-OR)
Pennsylvania
Lou Barletta (R-PA)
Ryan Costello (R-PA)
Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA)
Mike Kelly (R-PA)
Tom Marino (R-PA)
Keith Rothfus (R-PA)
Bill Schuster (R-PA)
Lloyd Smucker (R-PA)
Glenn Thompson (R-PA)
South Carolina
James Clyburn (D-SC)
Jeff Duncan (R-SC)
Trey Gowdy (R-SC)
Ralph Norman (R-SC)
Mark Sanford (R-SC)
Joe Wilson (R-SC)
Tennessee
Diane Black (R-TN)
Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)
Scott DeJarlais (R-TN)
John Duncan, Jr. (R-TN)
Chuck Fleishmann (R-TN)
David Kustoff (R-TN)
Phil Roe (R-TN)
Texas
Jodey Arrington (R-TX)
Brian Babin (R-TX)
Joe Barton (R-TX)
Kevin Brady (R-TX)
Michael Burgess (R-TX)
John Carter (R-TX)
Michael Conoway (R-TX)
John Culberson (R-TX)
Louie Gohmert (R-TX)
Vincente Gonzalez (D-TX)
Kay Granger (R-TX)
Gene Green (D-TX)
Will Hurd (R-TX)
Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX)
Sam Johnson (R-TX)
Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX)
Kenny Marchant (R-TX)
Michael McCaul (R-TX)
Pete Olson (R-TX)
Ted Poe (R-TX)
John Ratcliffe (R-TX)
Pete Sessions (R-TX)
Lamar Smith (R-TX)
Randy Weber (R-TX)
Roger Williams (R-TX)
Utah
Rob Bishop (R-UT)
John Curtis (R-UT)
Virginia
Dave Brat (R-VA)
Barbara Comstock (R-VA)
Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)
Morgan Griffith (R-VA0
Donald McEachin (D-VA)
Scott Taylor (R-VA)
Rob Wittman (R-VA)
Virgin Islands
Stacey Plaskett (R-VI)
Washington
Suzan DelBene (D-WA)
Denny Heck (D-WA)
Jaime Herrera Butler (R-WA)
Derek Kilmer (D-WA)
Rick Larsen (D-WA)
Dave Reichert (R-WA)
Adam Smith (D-WA)
Wisconsin
Ron Kind (D-WI)
West Virginia
David McKinley (R-WV)