A bill to authorize the President of the United States to present on behalf of the Congress a specially struck gold medal to Ambassador Kenneth Taylor.
Public Law 96-201 · H.R. 6374 · 96th Congress · began in the House
Signed by Jimmy Carter (D) on Mar 6, 1980 · Commemorations
Sponsor: Rep. Daniel Akaka (D-HI-2)
Cosponsors (123): Rep. Berkley Bedell, Rep. William Chappell,
Passage votes
- HouseMethod not stated
- SenateMethod not stated
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 President to present, on behalf of the Congress, a gold medal of appropriate design to Ambassador Kenneth Taylor in recognition of his efforts to secure the return of six American Embassy officials in Tehran.
Authorizes and directs the Secretary of the Treasury to cause to be struck such gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions. Authorizes to be spent from already appropriated funds $20,000 to carry out such purpose.
Empowers the Secretary to cause duplicates of such medal in bronze to be coined and sold to the general public.
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. 12 actions.
- Mar 6, 1980Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- PresidentPresident · Public Law 96-201.
- Feb 29, 1980PresidentPresident · Measure presented to President.
- Feb 28, 1980PresidentPresident · Measure enrolled in Senate.
- Feb 25, 1980PresidentPresident · Measure enrolled in House.
- Resolving differencesResolving differences · House agreed to Senate amendment.
- Feb 21, 1980FloorFloor · Measure passed Senate, amended.
- FloorFloor · Measure called up by unanimous consent in Senate.
- Feb 12, 1980FloorFloor · Measure passed House, amended, roll call #45 (362-1).House roll call 45
- Feb 11, 1980FloorFloor · Measure called up under motion to suspend rules and pass in House.
- Jan 30, 1980CommitteeCommittee · Referred to House Financial Services 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.