let me , in closing , mr. chairman , indicate , first of all , my respect for the members who have undertaken the responsibility of going out and getting 290 signatures . 
virtually everyone i have talked to said , never again , because of the difficulty . 
i said , well , think of it this way . 
you get a chance to meet a lot of new friends . 
every time you walk over or ride over for a vote , every time you see a member in the dining room , wherever it may be , you are getting their support . 
but it is a difficult process . 
i think the gentleman from delaware was right in raising that bar to where it is now , because it really does focus one 's attention on how difficult that process is . 
it does make it , by definition , a bipartisan process . 
that is a fact of life that we deal with time and time again . 
the legislation before us , i think , does restore the medal to what it was envisioned to be way back in 1776 . 
mr. chairman , i yield back the balance of my time . 
