House bill · 105th Congress · Public Law 105-320

Torture Victims Relief Act of 1998

H.R. 4309Introduced Jul 22, 1998Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement

Became law on Oct 30, 1998.

Sponsor: Rep. Christopher Smith R-NJ

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Where it went

IntroducedJul 22, 1998
Committee actionAug 6, 1998
Passed HouseSep 14, 1998 · by voice vote
Passed SenateOct 8, 1998 · by unanimous consent
Resolving differencesOct 10, 1998
To the PresidentOct 20, 1998
Became lawOct 30, 1998

Latest action: Oct 30, 1998 — Became Public Law No: 105-320.

Cost and committee reports

Official records Congress.gov attaches to H.R. 4309.

CBO cost estimateThe Congressional Budget Office published “H.R. 4309, Torture Victims Relief Act of 1998” on September 4, 1998. CBO’s description reads “Cost estimate for the bill as ordered reported by the House Committee on International Relations on August 6, 1998”.
Read the CBO estimate ↗Source: Congressional Budget Office, September 4, 1998 ↗
Evidence
Field in the Congress.gov record
cboCostEstimates
CBO publication
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/11134
CBO publication date
September 4, 1998
Congress.gov bill record
H.R. 4309, 105th Congress
Congress.gov API record
https://api.congress.gov/v3/bill/105/hr/4309
Record last updated by Congress.gov
June 3, 2026
PORKER copy retrieved
September 28, 2026
Stored copy, SHA-256 of the file
5a96eeeea14c5dde025538ba6954bfd85df7dad5e746d5d3c61b8ca2df9f5ff9
PORKER links to the estimate and does not repeat its dollar figures. Each estimate is for the version of the bill its description names; the bill may have changed since.
Committee reportCongress.gov lists 1 committee report for this bill: H. Rept. 105-709 ↗. The Congress.gov committee record lists a “Reported By” entry for the Foreign Affairs Committee on September 14, 1998.
Source: Congress.gov, reported September 14, 1998 ↗
Evidence
Field in the Congress.gov record
committeeReports
Report API records
https://api.congress.gov/v3/committee-report/105/HRPT/709
Congress.gov bill record
H.R. 4309, 105th Congress
Congress.gov API record
https://api.congress.gov/v3/bill/105/hr/4309
Record last updated by Congress.gov
June 3, 2026
PORKER copy retrieved
September 28, 2026
Stored copy, SHA-256 of the file
5a96eeeea14c5dde025538ba6954bfd85df7dad5e746d5d3c61b8ca2df9f5ff9
A committee report is the committee’s own explanation of the bill. PORKER lists it and links to it; reading it is up to you.

Sent to: Foreign Affairs Committee, Energy and Commerce CommitteeBills with a CBO estimate Bills with a committee report See it in the Data Web

From the Congress.gov bill record for H.R. 4309, last updated June 3, 2026. PORKER’s copy was retrieved September 28, 2026 and is refreshed nightly. Open “Evidence” on any line for the record, field and file fingerprint.

Vote results

No recorded roll-call votes on this bill in PORKER’s records (voice votes and unanimous consent are not roll calls; roll-call records start in 2011).

Cosponsors

30 cosponsors — 7 Republicans, 22 Democrats, 1 independent

23 of 30 cosponsors (77%) are from the other party.

Gary Ackerman (D-NY), Howard Berman (D-CA), Roy Blunt (R-MO), David Bonior (D-MI), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Bob Clement (D-TN), Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Eliot Engel (D-NY), Lane Evans (D-IL), Benjamin Gilman (R-NY), Tom Lantos (D-CA), John Lewis (D-GA), Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Edward Markey (D-MA), James McGovern (D-MA), George Miller (D-CA), David Minge (D-MN), Constance Morella (R-MD), Eleanor Norton (D-DC), James Oberstar (D-MN), Major Owens (D-NY), John Porter (R-IL), Jim Ramstad (R-MN), Martin Sabo (D-MN), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), H. Saxton (R-NJ), Brad Sherman (D-CA), Louise Slaughter (D-NY), Robert Underwood (D-GU), Lynn Woolsey (D-CA).

More from the sponsor

Other 105th Congress bills sponsored by Rep. Christopher Smith.

Sponsor’s state and district

New Jersey in Congress · NJ-4 district

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Data as of Sep 29, 2026 · bill record checked by PORKER from Congress.gov · votes from Senate.gov and the House Clerk. PORKER is non-partisan.