mr. chairman , the angst that i have with h.r. 54 does not speak to the eloquence that we have heard on the floor about our commitment to honoring our heroes and sheroes . 
let me make it perfectly clear , despite all of the accolades that we have spoken today , if this legislation were in place , president reagan and mrs. reagan would not receive the congressional gold medal ; neither would dr . 
king and mrs. coretta scott king ; neither would the indian code talkers who helped save thousands of lives in world war ii . 
i think that is the crux of this debate , not whether or not we have restrictions or nonrestrictions because i believe it is a given that the committee on financial services has done a commendable job in its oversight . 
as i look back on the numbers in the last four congresses , how interesting it is and the good sense of the crowley amendment because those that have been passed by this body only equal to five or six credible , rational and reasonable reasoning for awarding , for example , those who were intimately involved in brown v. board of education that changed the lives of millions of americans and today even is a standard for equal education in america . 
mr. chairman , i am confused by the necessity of this legislation and why we would not be able to enthusiastically support the very precise , as i said previously , and thoughtful amendments by the gentleman from new york ( mr. crowley ) xz4000870 , particularly those dealing with the idea of the number of gold medals , increasing them to six per congress . 
that is 2 years , that means three and three possibly , or however it is broken down , and then the fairness of equal distribution between republicans and democrats , all of us , of course , being americans . 
what is to argue the case or why would we argue the case that there were those who contributed together who are not worthy . 
i do not take this as any kind of personal act by my republican friends , but i do think it is a misstep in judgment and that we would have benefited from a more bipartisan overview , review of this legislation . 
for example , we would not have been able to honor , as some americans perceive as very important , ruth and billy graham . 
so this narrow or narrowing or this interpretation of one hero when there may be an adequate partnering that may be important that would symbolize the greatness and goodness of america puzzles me and , in fact , disturbs me . 
frankly , the civil rights movement was a group effort and it might be likely that one would want to honor the group of civil rights activists , the unknown , the unsung heroes that we are able to bring to the attention of the united states congress . 
how many really knew harry and eliza briggs ? 
how many knew levi pearson ? 
but once we debated and found out the facts , we knew that they were in fact heroes and sheroes . 
i think we do ourselves an enormous disservice by coming down hard-handed on who has given so much for america . 
and then i would say why start with divisive legislation . 
yes , there are only a few of us on the floor of the house , but we obviously are not able to speak for all of those unsung heroes yet to be brought to the attention of this house . 
all of us come in our course of life to meet people in our districts and around the country where we claim that we want to bring them to the attention of the american people not frivolously ; but after we have looked at the history , we know they are truly worthy of a congressional gold medal . 
so why we need this restrictive law that has not already been satisfied by the oversight of a bipartisan committee on financial services and the requirement , mr. chairman , the requirement of over 290 signatures , and most of these received close to 400 . 
and that is the test , whether your colleagues will support you . 
mr. chairman , in support of the gentleman 's two amendments , i am querying as to the amendment offered which would really balance this legislation which would speak to protect president reagan and dr . 
and mrs. billy graham and others who came together . 
