[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 142 (Tuesday, September 20, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H5683-H5685]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 UNITED STATES APPRECIATION FOR OLYMPIANS AND PARALYMPIANS ACT OF 2016

  Mr. DOLD. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill 
(H.R. 5946) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exclude from 
gross income any prizes or awards won in competition in the Olympic 
Games or the Paralympic Games, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 5946

       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 ``United States Appreciation 
     for Olympians and Paralympians Act of 2016''.

[[Page H5684]]

  


     SEC. 2. OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC MEDALS AND USOC PRIZE MONEY 
                   EXCLUDED FROM GROSS INCOME.

       (a) In General.--Section 74 of the Internal Revenue Code of 
     1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new 
     subsection:
       ``(d) Exception for Olympic and Paralympic Medals and 
     Prizes.--
       ``(1) In general.--Gross income shall not include the value 
     of any medal awarded in, or any prize money received from the 
     United States Olympic Committee on account of, competition in 
     the Olympic Games or Paralympic Games.
       ``(2) Limitation based on adjusted gross income.--
       ``(A) In general.--Paragraph (1) shall not apply to any 
     taxpayer for any taxable year if the adjusted gross income 
     (determined without regard to this subsection) of such 
     taxpayer for such taxable year exceeds $1,000,000 (half of 
     such amount in the case of a married individual filing a 
     separate return).
       ``(B) Coordination with other limitations.--For purposes of 
     sections 86, 135, 137, 199, 219, 221, 222, and 469, adjusted 
     gross income shall be determined after the application of 
     paragraph (1) and before the application of subparagraph 
     (A).''.
       (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section 
     shall apply to prizes and awards received after December 31, 
     2015.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Dold) and the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Illinois.


                             General Leave

  Mr. DOLD. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks 
and to include extraneous material on H.R. 5946, currently under 
consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Illinois?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. DOLD. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, every 2 years, young men and women travel around the 
world to represent the United States at the Olympic and Paralympic 
Games. These truly gifted athletes have dedicated their lives to 
training for the opportunity to compete on the world's greatest stage 
and represent our country, often with little financial help.
  The vast majority of these athletes do not have endorsement deals and 
sponsorships. Instead, they often work full-time jobs while training or 
are full-time students, like Olivia Smoliga, born in Glenview, 
Illinois, who won gold in the 4x100 medley relay, while also studying 
as a student at the University of Georgia.
  Over the years there have been a number of athletes who have 
struggled just to get by while training to represent our Nation. 
Olympians like Sarah Robles, who is now the highest ranked U.S. 
weightlifter, while training for the 2012 London Olympics, she lived in 
near poverty on just $400 a month. Sarah continued to focus on her 
training, and this past summer in Rio, she stood triumphantly on the 
Olympic podium, earning a bronze medal for the United States. And 
Paralympians like archery champion and world record holder Matt 
Stutzman, who picked up hunting to help feed his family while he was 
unemployed and having difficulty paying the rent.
  These are just a couple of examples, but they are indicative of the 
hardships and sacrifices faced by many U.S. Olympians as they train for 
the opportunity to represent our country at the Olympics. These men and 
women are the embodiment of the Olympic spirit.
  Upon their return from the games, our Olympians are met with praise 
and admiration. However, for those who win a medal, they are also met 
with a tax bill from the IRS. Not only do our Olympians owe the Federal 
Government tax revenue based on the value of their Olympic medal, but 
they also owe a cut of their prize winnings provided by the United 
States Olympic Committee.
  This tax on success, Mr. Speaker, is a disservice to the great 
athletes who compete for the United States. That is why I introduced, 
with Congressman Blake Farenthold, the United States Appreciation for 
Olympians and Paralympians Act. This legislation will eliminate the tax 
that the IRS imposes on both Olympic and Paralympic winnings by 
declaring that any medal value or prize money that is awarded by the 
United States Olympic Committee to our medalists not be counted in 
gross income.
  Under current law, there are a number of awards and prizes that are 
exempted from being counted as gross income by the IRS, which are 
similar to this very exemption. Additionally, I know there are concerns 
that individual athletes who have acted in a manner that is unbecoming 
of the Olympic spirit could benefit from this proposal. In those 
instances, there is precedent--as recently as this year--where the 
United States Olympic Committee determines that the athlete must 
forfeit receiving any prize winnings. This ensures that this tax 
exemption only applies to those athletes who uphold the Olympic spirit 
and their ideals.
  Finally, this bill before us today includes a commonsense amendment 
offered during the committee markup by the gentleman from New Jersey 
(Mr. Pascrell), my good friend, which makes sure that the proposal only 
applies to our Olympic athletes with a gross income below $1 million 
that year.

                              {time}  1715

  Our Olympic and Paralympic athletes deserve a catalyst to bring this 
Nation together every 2 years.
  I am asking my colleagues to join me in showing our appreciation for 
the hard work and dedication of our Olympians and Paralympians by 
supporting this bipartisan piece of legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. PASCRELL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to commend the main sponsor of the bill, 
Congressman Dold from Illinois. I think it is very thoughtful 
legislation.
  Our Olympic athletes have worked and trained tirelessly to represent 
the greatest country in the world on the world stage. They have won 
contests in athletics, and they have won our hearts and minds. We know 
that time spent in training and in competitions requires enormous 
sacrifices from the athletes and their families. We are proud of our 
Olympians.
  I appreciate the spirit of this legislation. We do not want to hit 
our athletes with a tax bill when they return home. That is a wonderful 
thank you. That is why I will support this legislation today.
  I am confident and very happy to support this legislation. It does 
include the amendment that the sponsor of the bill just mentioned, put 
forth in the Ways and Means Committee, to limit tax exclusion to those 
Olympians making less than $1 million a year.
  Some of these athletes win not only medals but lucrative 
endorsements. Michael Phelps is worth an estimated $50 million to $60 
million. NBA players like Kevin Durant make an estimated $56 million in 
1 year. In fact, Forbes reports that the 12 members of the U.S. 
basketball team earned a collective $257 million in salaries and 
endorsements over the past year.
  God bless them. But a cash prize for winning a competition is income, 
and there are many professions in the United States--and I think the 
sponsor would agree--that are valuable that we do not exempt from 
income taxes: teaching children with special needs, taking care of 
cancer patients, or taking care of our police and firefighters.
  My colleague, John Larson, introduced an amendment to allow volunteer 
firefighters to exclude from taxes nominal benefits they receive in 
their communities. These are ideas that merit our consideration, and 
there are many individuals worth honoring in our society.
  This legislation honors our Olympic athletes, while making sure our 
highest-paid professional sports stars continue to pay their fair 
share.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DOLD. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Texas 
(Mr. Farenthold), my good friend who has also done a lot of work in 
preparing this legislation.
  Mr. FARENTHOLD. Mr. Speaker, our taxes in this country are too high 
and too complicated. We need a fairer, flatter, simpler tax system, but 
there is a lot of work to be done on that.
  I know my friend, the gentleman from Illinois in the Ways and Means 
Committee, and Chairman Brady from Texas are all working on that. But 
we do have a situation where many of our Olympic athletes work hard for 
years--

[[Page H5685]]

some of whom are living at or below poverty--and when they bring home 
the gold, silver, or bronze to our country, they are tagged by the IRS 
with very high taxes.
  This bill is a small step and a small way that we can say thank you 
for the hard work those athletes put in to make us all proud as 
Americans.
  I do think the bill does great service to our athletes, but it should 
also serve as a reminder that we need to be looking at the bigger tax 
system in this country as a whole. As my colleague on the other side of 
the aisle said, there are a many great people doing many great things 
in this country who suffer a very, very high tax burden.
  I pledge to work with my friends and colleagues on the Ways and Means 
Committee toward that end, but I am happy we are making this small step 
forward--something I have been fighting for for several years. I thank 
the committee for their hard work on it, and I look forward to joining, 
hopefully, all of my colleagues in voting ``yes'' for this.
  Mr. PASCRELL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  Some people say that we don't win anymore. I would like to remind 
those people that the United States won 105 total medals in Rio. 
Thirty-eight of them were gold. To those who say America doesn't win 
anymore, we could cite many, many other examples, of course.
  Our Olympic athletes make us proud. New Jersey's own Laurie Hernandez 
wowed us with her strength and agility in the gymnastics competition. 
Soccer star Carli Lloyd and rower Lauren Schmetterling made New Jersey 
proud, as did Hoboken-born track star Keturah Orji, not to mention a 
former intern from my office, Caylee Watson, who competed for the U.S. 
Virgin Islands in the backstroke swimming competition.
  You can't make this stuff up. This is great. They are just a few of 
the incredible athletes who inspired us this summer in Rio. We should 
do all what we can to honor these Olympians with our gratitude and our 
admiration.
  Again, I salute the sponsor. This bill recognizes the tremendous 
sacrifice of time and resources in Olympic athletes' training, while 
also preventing another tax cut for wealthy individuals who don't need 
it.
  I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. DOLD. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Again, I want to thank my good friend from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell) 
not only for his thoughtfulness in this bill, which is a commonsense 
piece of legislation, but actually for his amendment, which I think 
strengthens the bill.
  Mr. Speaker, millions of young people around the world look at the 
Olympic games and dream of someday becoming an athlete and representing 
their Nation. We are extremely proud of our Olympians and Paralympians. 
We want to reward them for the hard work and sacrifice they have put 
day in and day out. This piece of legislation, again, I think, goes one 
step in that direction.
  This is not a bill to reward the Kevin Durants or the Michael 
Phelpses of the world, but it is a bill to say thank you to our 
Olympians for representing our country so well. Thank you for putting 
in the time, the effort, and the energy to train as hard as you are to 
do so well on the world stage.
  I want to thank Linda Sanchez and Mike Thompson who also were 
cosponsors of this legislation. I sincerely hope that we can get 
colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 5946, 
the ``United States Appreciation for Olympians and Paralympians Act.''
  H.R. 5946 would amend the Internal Revenue Code to exclude the value 
of any medal or prize money that an Athlete may win competing in the 
Olympic and Paralympic games.
  I support this legislation because it would allow athletes to keep 
more of the hard earned prize money that they rightly deserve from the 
coveted and honorable medals won during the Olympics and Paralympics.
  The ``United States Appreciation for Olympians and Paralympians Act'' 
is a thoughtful and necessary bill that will assist those who represent 
our nation in athletic competition.
  I am proud of the athletes in both the Olympic Games and the 
Paralympic Games who competed in Rio de Janeiro.
  Houston, Texas had the great honor of sending two of our own to the 
Olympic Games; Simone Biles who won 4 gold medals and one bronze in the 
sport of Gymnastics, along with Simone Manuel who became the first 
African American woman to win gold in the sport of swimming.
  The great state of Texas also had Jimmy Feigen won the gold medal in 
swimming, Townley Haas, Jack Conger and Clark Smith won the gold medal 
in the freestyle relay, and Michelle Carter, who is also University of 
Texas alum, won the gold medal in women's shot put.
  In the Paralympic Games Jazmin Almlie-Ryan represented her nation and 
the City of Houston in the sport of target shooting.
  H.R. 5946 embodies the spirit of bipartisanship that is needed in 
this Congress.
  Mr. Speaker, this is why I join with my colleagues in working to 
reward our athletes who have worked so diligently and represented the 
very best of our ideals.
  I urge my colleagues in the House to support H.R. 5946 ``United 
States Appreciation for Olympians and Paralympians Act.''
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Dold) that the House suspend the rules and 
pass the bill, H.R. 5946, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. HUELSKAMP. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.

                          ____________________