An original bill to authorize the awarding of special congressional gold medals to the daughter of Harry S Truman, to Lady Bird Johnson, and to Elie Wiesel.
Public Law 98-278 · S. 2597 · 98th Congress · began in the Senate
Signed by Ronald Reagan (R) on May 8, 1984 · Commemorations
Sponsor: Sen. Jake Garn (R-UT)
Cosponsors: None
Passage votes
- HouseUnanimous consent
- 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, on behalf of Congress, to present gold medals to: (1) Margaret Truman Daniel, daughter of Harry S. Truman, in recognition of the lifetime of public service he gave to the United States; (2) Lady Bird Johnson, in recognition of her humanitarian efforts and contributions to the improvement and beautification of America; and (3) Elie Wiesel, in recognition of his humanitarian efforts and contributions to world literature and human rights.
Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to provide for the sale of bronze duplicates of such medals.
Authorizes appropriations.
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. 9 actions.
- May 8, 1984Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 98-278.
- Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- May 2, 1984PresidentPresident · Presented to President.
- Apr 26, 1984FloorFloor · Passed House by Unanimous Consent.
- FloorFloor · Called up by House by Unanimous Consent.
- FloorFloor · Passed Senate without amendment by Voice Vote.
- Apr 25, 1984CommitteeCommittee · Reported original measure by Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee
- CommitteeCommittee · Markup by 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.