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A bill to designate "The Stars and Stripes Forever" as the national march of the United States of America.

Public Law 100-186 · S. 860 · 100th Congress · began in the Senate

Signed by Ronald Reagan (R) on Dec 11, 1987 · Commemorations

Sponsor: Sen. David Boren (D-OK)

Cosponsors (36): Sen. Thad Cochran,

Passage votes

  • HouseVoice vote
  • SenateVoice vote
Data notes

The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.

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Summary

The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.

Designates "The Stars and Stripes Forever" as the national march.

Committees

The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.

  • Post Office and Civil Service Committee · House · referred toSubcommittee: Census and Population Subcommittee
  • Judiciary Committee · Senate · markup by, referred to, reported by
Data notes

A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.

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Timeline

From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 14 actions.

  1. Dec 11, 1987Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 100-186.
  2. Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
  3. Dec 4, 1987PresidentPresident · Presented to President.
  4. Dec 2, 1987Resolving differencesResolving differences · Senate agreed to the House amendment by Voice Vote.
  5. Dec 1, 1987FloorFloor · Passed House (Amended) by Voice Vote.
  6. Nov 17, 1987CommitteeCommittee · Reported by Census and Population Subcommittee of the House Post Office and Civil Service Committee
  7. CommitteeCommittee · Markup by Census and Population Subcommittee of the House Post Office and Civil Service Committee
  8. Nov 13, 1987CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Census and Population Subcommittee of the House Post Office and Civil Service Committee
  9. Nov 10, 1987CommitteeCommittee · Referred to House Post Office and Civil Service Committee
  10. Nov 6, 1987FloorFloor · Passed Senate without amendment by Voice Vote.
  11. Nov 5, 1987CommitteeCommittee · Reported by Senate Judiciary Committee
  12. CommitteeCommittee · Markup by Senate Judiciary Committee
  13. Mar 26, 1987CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Senate Judiciary Committee
  14. IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in the Senate
Data notes

Shows the introduction, each committee and subcommittee step the source dates (referral, hearings, markup, report, discharge), and the floor, conference, presidential and became-law steps. Calendar placements, messages between the chambers, amendments and committee report numbers are not shown for laws before the 108th Congress. Two entries the source lists twice are shown once.

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Official record

The bill’s full text and every action, including introduction and committee steps, are on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.