A bill to authorize the President of the United States to present on behalf of the Congress a specially struck gold medal to Simon Wiesenthal.
Public Law 96-211 · S. 1792 · 96th Congress · began in the Senate
Signed by Jimmy Carter (D) on Mar 17, 1980 · Commemorations
Sponsor: Sen. George McGovern (D-SD)
Cosponsors (21): Sen. William Cohen, Sen. Birch Bayh,
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, on behalf of the Congress, to present a gold medal of appropriate design to Simon Wiesenthal in recognition of his contribution to international justice through the documentation and location of war criminals from World War II. Authorizes the appropriation of a specified sum after October 1, 1980, to carry out the provision of this Act.
Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to strike bronze duplicates of such medal for sale to the 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. 13 actions.
- Mar 17, 1980Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- PresidentPresident · Public Law 96-211.
- Mar 6, 1980PresidentPresident · Measure presented to President.
- PresidentPresident · Measure enrolled in Senate.
- Mar 5, 1980PresidentPresident · Measure enrolled in House.
- Mar 3, 1980FloorFloor · Measure passed House, in lieu of H. R. 5548.
- FloorFloor · Measure called up by unanimous consent in House.
- Dec 4, 1979CommitteeCommittee · Referred to House Financial Services Committee
- Nov 30, 1979FloorFloor · Measure passed Senate, amended.
- FloorFloor · Measure called up by unanimous consent in Senate.
- CommitteeCommittee · Reported by Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee
- Sep 21, 1979CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee
- 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.
Official record
The bill’s full text and every action, including introduction and committee steps, are on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.