A bill to amend the Arms Export Control Act to require that congressional vetoes of certain arms export proposals be enacted into law.
Public Law 99-247 · S. 1831 · 99th Congress · began in the Senate
Signed by Ronald Reagan (R) on Feb 12, 1986 · Foreign Trade and International Finance
Sponsor: Sen. Alan Cranston (D-CA)
Cosponsors (9): Sen. Robert Kasten, Sen. Christopher Dodd,
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.
Amends the Arms Export Control Act to require that a congressional veto of an arms export proposal must be enacted into law. (Currently such veto may be in the form of adoption of a concurrent resolution.)
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. 10 actions.
- Feb 12, 1986Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 99-247.
- Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- Feb 6, 1986PresidentPresident · Presented to President.
- Feb 3, 1986FloorFloor · Passed House by Voice Vote.
- Dec 19, 1985FloorFloor · Passed Senate without amendment by Voice Vote.
- CommitteeCommittee · Referred to House Foreign Affairs Committee
- Dec 12, 1985CommitteeCommittee · Reported by Senate Foreign Relations Committee
- Dec 11, 1985CommitteeCommittee · Markup by Senate Foreign Relations Committee
- Nov 5, 1985CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Senate Foreign Relations 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.