About the bill
The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) (Pub.L. 104–199, 110 Stat. 2419, enacted September 21, 1996, 1 U.S.C. § 7 and 28 U.S.C. § 1738C) was a United States federal law that, prior to being ruled unconstitutional, defined marriage for federal purposes as the union of one man and one woman, and allowed states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages granted under the laws of other states. Until Section 3 of the Act was struck down in 2013 (United States v. Windsor), DOMA, in conjunction with other statutes, had barred same-sex married couples from being recognized as "spouses" for purposes of federal laws, effectively barring them from receiving federal marriage benefits. DOMA's passage did not prevent individual states from recognizing same-sex marriage, but it imposed constraints on …
Sponsor and status
104th Congress (1995–1996)
Enacted — Signed by the President on Sep 21, 1996
This bill was enacted after being signed by the President on September 21, 1996.
117 Cosponsors (106 Republicans, 11 Democrats)
History
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May 7, 1996
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Introduced
Bills and resolutions are referred to committees which debate the bill before possibly sending it on to the whole chamber. |
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Jun 12, 1996
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Ordered Reported
A committee has voted to issue a report to the full chamber recommending that the bill be considered further. Only about 1 in 4 bills are reported out of committee. |
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Jul 11, 1996
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Rules Change —
Agreed To
This activity took place on a related bill, H.Res. 474 (104th). |
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Jul 12, 1996
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Passed House (Senate next)
The bill was passed in a vote in the House. It goes to the Senate next. |
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Sep 10, 1996
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Passed Senate
The bill was passed by both chambers in identical form. It goes to the President next who may sign or veto the bill. |
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Sep 21, 1996
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Enacted — Signed by the President
The President signed the bill and it became law.
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H.R. 3396 (104th) was a bill in the United States Congress.
A bill must be passed by both the House and Senate in identical form and then be signed by the President to become law.
Bills numbers restart every two years. That means there are other bills with the number H.R. 3396. This is the one from the 104th Congress.
This bill was introduced in the 104th Congress, which met from Jan 4, 1995 to Oct 4, 1996. Legislation not passed by the end of a Congress is cleared from the books.
How to cite this information.
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“H.R. 3396 — 104th Congress: Defense of Marriage Act.” www.GovTrack.us. 1996. September 28, 2023 <https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/104/hr3396>
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Where is this information from?
GovTrack automatically collects legislative information from a variety of governmental and non-governmental sources. This page is sourced primarily from Congress.gov, the official portal of the United States Congress. Congress.gov is generally updated one day after events occur, and so legislative activity shown here may be one day behind. Data via the congress project.
