Senators Stevens and Inouye were both appointed to the conference committee to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act in 1999. The conferees inserted language (Section 8162) to authorize the memorial and establish the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission into the conference report. The House approved the appropriations act 372-to-55 on October 13, and the Senate followed by a vote of 87-to-11 on October 14. President Bill Clinton signed the bill into law (P.L. 106–79) on October 25, 1999.