mr. chairman , i yield myself such time as i may consume . 
mr. chairman , i would like to express my disappointment that this legislation is not being offered under an open rule . 
in fact , the chairman of the full committee on financial services , the gentleman from ohio ( mr. oxley ) xz4003070 , who holds jurisdiction over this legislation , even requested during his committee on rules testimony last night a more open process for debate on this bill , and i thank the chairman for those comments . 
i would also like to take a moment to specifically thank and welcome our new committee on rules ranking member , my friend and colleague , the gentlewoman from new york ( ms. slaughter ) xz4003780 , who will serve as a true and tireless fighter for democrats and our rights in the minority on the committee on rules over the next 2 years . 
mr. chairman , the bill we are debating today , h.r. 54 , the congressional gold medal enhancement act of 2005 , while introduced in the previous congress , was never debated in committee because no hearings were convened , and no markup was held . 
and given that the committee on financial services has yet to even hold its organizational meeting for the 109th congress , the committee has obviously not yet had an opportunity to consider this issue carefully . 
in my view , we are rushing to act on an issue that does not represent a problem . 
having said that , democrats are open to debating and voting on this legislation . 
in the last several congresses , congressional gold medals have been considered in the house under a well-established and a bipartisan process that works well . 
regular order for consideration of gold medals involves the need , under the rules of the committee on financial services , to gain the cosponsorship of two-thirds of the house before the legislation is considered in committee , a full two-thirds sponsorship of the house before it is considered in committee . 
the bar for consideration for gold medals is set relatively high for a reason : gaining a two-thirds cosponsorship ensures that a solid bipartisan majority of the house is in full support of honoring a particularly noteworthy individual or individuals . 
under the rule today , i plan to offer two amendments . 
the first amendment would raise the number of gold medals from two per calendar year to six per congress , or an overall increase of two medals per congress . 
this is especially key , as in the 108th congress we awarded five congressional gold medals . 
they went to tony blair , the prime minister of great britain ; dr . 
dorothy height , president of the national council of negro women ; jackie robinson , the first black player in major league baseball ; the reverend dr . 
martin luther king , posthumously , and his widow coretta scott king , the civil rights icons ; and the posthumous awarding to reverend joseph a. delaine , harry and eliza briggs , and levi pearson , the leaders in our nation 's efforts to desegregate public schools that led directly to the case brown et al . 
v. the board of education of topeka . 
my second amendment would provide for equitable distribution of gold medals between the majority and the minority . 
my amendments seek to maintain the spirit and process of bipartisanship that has characterized the house 's consideration of gold medals , the highest honor that this congress can bestow on an individual or group of individuals . 
it is my hope that the house will adopt these amendments to make this bill a better bill . 
stating that , though , i am dismayed that the committee on rules refused to allow consideration of a key amendment that would strike a section of the bill that only permits the granting of congressional gold medals to individuals . 
while i tend to agree with the notion that distributing what is an exceptional honor to too many individuals could devalue the symbolic worth of a gold medal , there are occasions when more than one person is justified to receive the medal for their honorable actions in tandem with others . 
in the last congress , we enacted into law legislation awarding the congressional gold medal posthumously , as i mentioned before , to reverend joseph a. delaine , harry and eliza briggs , and levi pearson in recognition of their contributions to the nation as pioneers in the effort to desegregate public schools that led directly to the landmark desegregation case of brown v. the board of ed . 
in previous congresses , the house has awarded gold medals to other groups , such as native american code talkers , who were critical to the safety of allied communications during world war ii ; to the little rock nine , the civil rights pioneers who led to the integration of our public schools ; and to ronald and nancy reagan , in honor of their contribution to our country . 
i fear that limiting gold medals to only individuals would also limit certain people from consideration who are most deserving of receiving one of our nation 's highest honors . 
for example , my good friend and republican colleague , the gentleman from new york ( mr. king ) xz4002202 offered an amendment in the previous congress , which the house passed , to honor the officers , emergency workers , and other employees of the federal government and any state or local government , including any interstate governmental entity , who responded to the attacks on the world trade center in new york city and who perished in that attack on september 11 with a congressional gold medal . 
this would not be possible if this bill passed . 
and i would hope that my friend , the gentleman from new york ( mr. king ) xz4002202 , will oppose this bill , because if it were to pass , it would put an end to any opportunity to present the congressional gold medal to any of those heroes . 
again , while i urge my colleagues to support my two amendments that were made in order , i am dismayed that this third amendment was not made in order . 
if this bill were already law , congress would not have been able to issue the congressional medal of honor to the little rock nine or to the reagans . 
i feel this is a serious oversight in the base of this bill . 
mr. chairman , i reserve the balance of my time . 
