Joe Crowley: “This amendment is a simple and fair amendment that would increase the maximum number of Congressional gold medals that…”

“This amendment is a simple and fair amendment that would increase the maximum number of Congressional gold medals that Congress could award from two per calendar year to six per Congress, an increase of two medals per Congress. The reason for this amendment was best summed up by the Republican Rules Committee Member, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Gingrey) last night during his questioning of Chairman Oxley. He had concerns that the bill in its current form would make members hesitate before introducing their own Congressional gold medal bills until late in the first year, waiting to see if others had more noteworthy recipients, then late in the first year rushing to introduce their bills and possibly missing the two medals in 1 year deadline due to the high threshold of needing two-thirds of the House as cosponsors, then forcing a larger number of congressional gold medal bills to compete for the two open slots in the following year. I too share some of those concerns and believe we can address this by passing this amendment.”