mr. chairman , i made a couple of these points before , and again i will not repeat too much here , but first and foremost is the 290 signatures .  i do not know if one party is ever going to have 290 members or not , i sort of doubt it , at least in the time most of us are around here , and you need both parties in order do this .  i learned with the coin that i did , which was benjamin franklin .  i can not tell you , and hardly anyone can tell you , whether benjamin franklin was or would have been a republican or a democrat in his history .  we do not know the politics of people like george washington , and certainly the people who have been from other countries , a number of individuals who received medals here in the congress of the united states .  in the history of the gold medals , as i believe the gentleman from new york ( mr. crowley )  pointed out , it has been as much democrats , even more so than republicans .  even on the business of the commemorative coins , a number of the sponsors in the senate have been democrats as well .  i just have never noticed a lot of politics in this , i guess is my point .  it seems to me i have been asked to sign these , and i generally sign them , unless it is something i think is spurious , by democrats and republicans .  i do not think about it .  certainly , if a party feels it is being slighted , they can say we are just not going to sign on to something .  i do not think this needs a political balance .  what it really needs , i think , is to find out , if we are going to do two , who the two most distinguished individuals are who should be recognized and go ahead and recognize them , apart from whatever the politics may be .  i do not think it is going to fall down along political lines .  so i do rise in opposition to this .  i just think it is sort of a necessary strain on having a political balance on something which is not essential .  