Appointing the day for the convening of the first session of the One Hundred Fifth Congress and the day for the counting in Congress of the electoral votes for President and Vice President cast in December 1996.
Public Law 104-296 · H.J.Res. 198 · 104th Congress · began in the House
Signed by Bill Clinton (D) on Oct 11, 1996 · Congress
Sponsor: Rep. Richard Armey (R-TX-26)
Cosponsors: None
Passage votes
- HouseUnanimous consent
- 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.
Provides for convening the first session of the 105th Congress at noon on January 7, 1997.
Requires the meeting of the Senate and the House of Representatives to count the electoral votes for President and Vice President to be held on January 9, 1997.
Committees
The record shows no committee referral for this bill.
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. 9 actions.
- Oct 11, 1996Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 104-296.
- Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- Oct 2, 1996PresidentPresident · Presented to President.
- Oct 1, 1996FloorFloor · Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent.
- Sep 28, 1996FloorFloor · Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
- FloorFloor · On passage Passed without objection.
- FloorFloor · Mr. Armey asked unanimous consent to consider as introduced.
- FloorFloor · Considered by unanimous consent.
- 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.