To make available certain Voice of America and Radio Marti multilingual computer readable text and voice recordings.
Public Law 104-269 · H.R. 3916 · 104th Congress · began in the House
Signed by Bill Clinton (D) on Oct 9, 1996 · International Affairs
Sponsor: Rep. Benjamin Gilman (R-NY-20)
Cosponsors (2): Rep. Rob Andrews, Rep. Jon Fox
Passage votes
- HouseVoice vote
- SenateUnanimous consent
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.
Summary
The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.
Authorizes the Director of the U.S. Information Agency to make available for five years, upon request, to the Linguistic Data Consortium of the University of Pennsylvania computer readable multilingual text and recorded speech in various languages. Requires the Consortium to reimburse the Director for expenses involved in making such material available.
Committees
The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.
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.
Timeline
From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 13 actions.
- Oct 9, 1996Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 104-269.
- Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- Sep 30, 1996PresidentPresident · Presented to President.
- Sep 28, 1996FloorFloor · Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent.
- Sep 25, 1996CommitteeCommittee · Reported by Senate Foreign Relations Committee
- CommitteeCommittee · Markup by Senate Foreign Relations Committee
- Sep 5, 1996CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Senate Foreign Relations Committee
- Sep 4, 1996FloorFloor · Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
- FloorFloor · On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote.
- FloorFloor · Mr. Gilman moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill.
- Aug 1, 1996CommitteeCommittee · Markup by House Foreign Affairs Committee
- Jul 30, 1996CommitteeCommittee · Referred to House Foreign Affairs Committee
- IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in the House
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.
Official record
The bill’s full text and every action, including introduction and committee steps, are on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.