mr. chairman , i yield myself such time as i may consume . 
today , i rise in support of h.r. 54 , the congressional gold medal enhancement act of 2005 , authored by the gentleman from delaware ( mr. castle ) xz4000700 , and urge its immediate passage . 
the legislation is a commonsense effort to maintain the prestige of this award . 
as the members know , the gold medal is the highest civilian honor bestowed by congress . 
it has been awarded to a long and distinguished line of individuals who have made significant contributions to this country , beginning with general george washington even before the declaration of independence . 
recipients have included civil rights leaders , cultural icons and leaders in science . 
but a disturbing trend has emerged since the gentleman from delaware ( mr. castle ) xz4000700 sensibly reformed the commemorative coin program a decade ago . 
until that point , congress approved the awarding of only a few , usually one or two , gold medals each congress , but approved as many as a dozen commemorative coin programs , often at great cost to taxpayers . 
chairman castle 's reforms eliminated the cost to the taxpayers , restoring the dignity to the commemorative coin program . 
he also instituted a requirement that two-thirds of the house should sponsor legislation for either commemorative coins or gold medals before consideration could take place so that support would be broad and bipartisan . 
those reforms have been successful , but denied the opportunity to enact numerous commemorative coin programs , congress increasingly has turned to the gold medal program , and we now find ourselves in a situation of having fewer honorees for commemorative coins than we do from gold medals . 
during the last congress , only three commemorative coins were struck , and we approved five medal programs honoring seven individuals . 
by comparison , in the first 123 years of the gold medal , only 45 people were so honored . 
mr. chairman , all medal honorees to date have been good choices and well deserving of the honor . 
however , we could be faced with a quandary : either approve a medal for an individual who has had some accomplishment , but probably is not at the same level as a general washington or a jonas salk , or else decline to approve the legislation . 
we should not let ourselves get into that situation , mr. chairman . 
chairman castle 's common-sense limit of two gold medals a year , and limiting the recipients to individuals rather than groups , maintains the prestige and honor of receiving a congressional gold medal . 
combined with the requirement of a minimum cosponsorship level of two-thirds of the house is the best way to preserve the integrity of the gold medal . 
at the appropriate time , i will offer a manager 's amendment that seeks to change the effective date of this legislation from december 31 of this year to immediately upon enactment so that the rules for awarding medals would remain the same throughout this congress and not change midsession . 
mr. chairman , i urge immediate passage of this legislation . 
mr. chairman , i reserve the balance of my time . 
