During his time in Congress, Lazio championed the case to award a posthumous Congressional Medal of Honor to President Theodore Roosevelt for his charge up San Juan Hill in the Spanish–American War. Congress eventually passed legislation asking the president to grant the honor, and President Clinton awarded the medal in January 2001. Lazio also sponsored the Wartime Violation of Italian American Civil Liberties Act, which, after being passed and signed into law in 2000, directed the U.S. Attorney General to review the government's internment of Italian nationals during World War II.