A bill to authorize the President to award the Medal of Honor to the unknown American who lost his life while serving in the Armed Forces of the United States in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam era and who has been selected to be buried in the Memorial Amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery.
Public Law 98-301 · H.R. 5515 · 98th Congress · began in the House
Signed by Ronald Reagan (R) on May 25, 1984 · Commemorations
Sponsor: Rep. Charles Price (D-IL-21)
Cosponsors (33): Rep. William Dickinson, Rep. Sonny Montgomery,
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 award the Medal of Honor to the unknown soldier of the Vietnam era buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
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. 11 actions.
- May 25, 1984Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 98-301.
- Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- May 22, 1984PresidentPresident · Presented to President.
- May 16, 1984FloorFloor · Passed Senate without amendment by Voice Vote.
- May 10, 1984FloorFloor · Held at the desk by unanimous consent. Pending further disposition.
- May 3, 1984FloorFloor · Passed House by Voice Vote.
- FloorFloor · Called up by House by Unanimous Consent.
- CommitteeCommittee · Discharged from House Armed Services Committee
- CommitteeCommittee · Markup by House Armed Services Committee
- Apr 25, 1984CommitteeCommittee · Referred to House Armed 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.