A bill to authorize the President of the United States to award congressional gold medals to Anatoly and Avital Shcharansky in recognition of their dedication to human rights, and to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to sell bronze duplicates of those medals.
Public Law 99-298 · S. 2308 · 99th Congress · began in the Senate
Signed by Ronald Reagan (R) on May 13, 1986 · Commemorations
Sponsor: Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Cosponsors (20): Sen. Alfonse D’Amato, Sen. Arlen Specter,
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 and requests the President to present, on behalf of the Congress, gold medals to Natan (Anatoly) and Avital Shcharansky in recognition of their supreme dedication and total commitment to human rights and freedoms.
Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to determine the design of the medals. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes the Secretary to sell bronze duplicates of the medals.
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 13, 1986Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 99-298.
- Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- May 12, 1986PresidentPresident · Presented to President.
- FloorFloor · Passed House by Voice Vote.
- FloorFloor · Called up by House by Unanimous Consent.
- May 8, 1986FloorFloor · Passed Senate with an amendment and an amendment to the Title by Voice Vote.
- FloorFloor · Measure laid before Senate by unanimous consent.
- CommitteeCommittee · Reported by Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee
- CommitteeCommittee · Markup by Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee
- Apr 15, 1986CommitteeCommittee · Referred to 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.