i thank the gentleman for yielding . 
mr. chairman , not to prolong the discussion , because i think the gentleman from new york is making some very valid points that should be debated , one of them which is an amendment which is not included here today , and that is the issue of the groups . 
we have checked the history of this . 
to the best of my knowledge , and the gentleman may have some different evidence , i do not think it is different because it is fairly clear who has received these medals , it has always been individuals historically . 
it was never couples . 
that is only something that has happened in the more recent couple of decades , perhaps a couple of times . 
as far as the groups are concerned , there have only been three altogether . 
certainly i am not suggesting any of them are not deserving , for goodness sake . 
they all are . 
the navajo code talkers clearly are deserving . 
that obviously created some problems because of the volume of the medals , and it was done in sort of an unusual procedure . 
the red cross is another very deserving , and so are the veterans of the civil war , which is the other group we found , although that was done much after the civil war . 
there are all kinds of groups out there . 
the congressional gold medal of honor has always been bestowed upon an individual in a very special ceremony to honor that individual . 
it is not easy to get done . 
i do not know if the gentleman has done it . 
as i said before , i did it . 
it is difficult to get 290 signatures on anything around here . 
so it is difficult to get done . 
so obviously it is going to be somebody who is deserving . 
it is going to be as bipartisan as could be . 
you can not do it with one party or the other . 
you have got to get everybody . 
that is what the history of it is . 
we tried to develop this legislation to have a great recognition of what we consider to be the greatest honor this congress can give to a limited number of individuals , which was always what the intent of it was . 
there are a whole lot of ways of recognizing groups . 
you and i could sit here and name groups for hours at a time that could be honored . 
but the congressional gold medal was never really created for that purpose . 
that is the intent of what we are trying to do in the legislation . 
i just wanted to make that point in the history of it . 
