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An act to authorize the use of education block grant funds to teach the principles of citizenship.

Public Law 97-313 · H.R. 5658 · 97th Congress · began in the House

Signed by Ronald Reagan (R) on Oct 14, 1982 · Government Operations and Politics

Sponsor: Rep. Charles Bennett (D-FL-3)

Cosponsors: None

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.

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Summary

The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.

Amends the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act of 1981 to allow education block grant funds to be used for programs to teach the principles of citizenship.

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.

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Timeline

From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 13 actions.

  1. Oct 14, 1982Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 97-313.
  2. Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
  3. Oct 5, 1982PresidentPresident · Presented to President.
  4. Oct 1, 1982FloorFloor · Passed Senate without amendment by Voice Vote.
  5. Sep 14, 1982FloorFloor · Passed House (Amended) by Voice Vote.
  6. Sep 9, 1982CommitteeCommittee · Reported by House Education and Workforce Committee
  7. Aug 10, 1982CommitteeCommittee · Markup by House Education and Workforce Committee
  8. Jul 28, 1982CommitteeCommittee · Reported by Elementary, Secondary, and Vocational Education Subcommittee of the House Education and Workforce Committee
  9. CommitteeCommittee · Markup by Elementary, Secondary, and Vocational Education Subcommittee of the House Education and Workforce Committee
  10. Jul 21, 1982CommitteeCommittee · Hearings by Elementary, Secondary, and Vocational Education Subcommittee of the House Education and Workforce Committee
  11. Mar 19, 1982CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Elementary, Secondary, and Vocational Education Subcommittee of the House Education and Workforce Committee
  12. Mar 2, 1982CommitteeCommittee · Referred to House Education and Workforce Committee
  13. 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.

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Official record

The bill’s full text and every action, including introduction and committee steps, are on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.