To amend the charter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States organization to make members of the armed forces who receive special pay for duty subject to hostile fire or imminent danger eligible for membership in the organization, and for other purposes.
Public Law 107-242 · H.R. 3838 · 107th Congress · began in the House
Signed by George W. Bush (R) on Oct 16, 2002 · Armed Forces and National Security
Sponsor: Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ-4)
Cosponsors (7): Rep. Lane Evans, Rep. Chet Edwards,
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.
Amends the charter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States to make eligible for membership in such organization an individual who served honorably in an area which entitled such individual to hostile fire or imminent danger special pay.
Includes charitable activities within such organization's authorized purposes.
Committees
The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.
Judiciary Committee · House · markup by, referred to, reported bySubcommittee: Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Subcommittee
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. 17 actions.
- Oct 16, 2002Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 107-242.
- Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- Oct 7, 2002PresidentPresident · Presented to President.
- Oct 2, 2002FloorFloor · Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent.
- Sep 5, 2002CommitteeCommittee · Reported by Senate Judiciary Committee
- CommitteeCommittee · Markup by Senate Judiciary Committee
- Jul 16, 2002CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Senate Judiciary Committee
- Jul 15, 2002FloorFloor · 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. Sensenbrenner moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill.
- Jul 12, 2002CommitteeCommittee · Reported by House Judiciary Committee
- Jul 10, 2002CommitteeCommittee · Markup by House Judiciary Committee
- Apr 17, 2002CommitteeCommittee · Reported by Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee
- CommitteeCommittee · Markup by Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee
- Mar 18, 2002CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee
- Mar 4, 2002CommitteeCommittee · Referred to House Judiciary 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.