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 .  