A bill to award special Congressional gold medals to Fred Waring, the widow of Joe Louis, and Louis L'Amour.
Public Law 97-246 · H.R. 4647 · 97th Congress · began in the House
Signed by Ronald Reagan (R) on Aug 26, 1982 · Commemorations
Sponsor: Rep. Joseph Gaydos (D-PA-20)
Cosponsors (224): Rep. Joseph McDade, Rep. Walter Fauntroy,
Passage votes
- HouseVoice vote
- SenateVoice vote
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 to Fred Waring, Louis L'Amour, and the widow of Joe Louis.
Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to strike and sell bronze duplicates of each medal.
Authorizes appropriations.
Committees
The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.
Financial Services Committee · House · discharged from, markup by, referred toSubcommittee: Consumer Affairs and Coinage 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. 12 actions.
- Aug 26, 1982Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 97-246.
- Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- Aug 18, 1982PresidentPresident · Presented to President.
- Aug 12, 1982FloorFloor · Passed Senate without amendment by Voice Vote.
- Aug 2, 1982FloorFloor · Passed House by Voice Vote.
- CommitteeCommittee · Discharged from House Financial Services Committee
- Jul 27, 1982CommitteeCommittee · Markup by House Financial Services Committee
- Jul 20, 1982CommitteeCommittee · Reported by Consumer Affairs and Coinage Subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee
- CommitteeCommittee · Markup by Consumer Affairs and Coinage Subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee
- Oct 9, 1981CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Consumer Affairs and Coinage Subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee
- Sep 30, 1981CommitteeCommittee · 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.