Law is attached to tens of billions of dollars defense authorization bill . It is named for Byrd and James Byrd Jr. , both killed in October 1998 . Shepard was gay , Matthew Shepard was American . Former President Bush had threatened to veto a similar measure .
Law is attached to $ 680 billion defense authorization bill . It is named for Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. , both killed in 1998 . Shepard was gay , Byrd was African-American . Former President Bush had threatened to veto a similar measure .