Joe Crowley: “today we begin the 109th Congress in earnest, and we do so by considering a bill that we do not need to act on for a…”

“today we begin the 109th Congress in earnest, and we do so by considering a bill that we do not need to act on for a problem that, in our view and in the view of many of my colleagues, simply does not exist. We considered this bill today not in the spirit of openness and bipartisanship that should categorize the democratic debate in the House, but with a restrictive rule that did not allow us to have a debate on a key issue: whether one of the highest honors that can be bestowed upon citizens of our country for their extraordinary deeds, a Congressional Gold Medal, can be awarded to one individual or more for their collective honorable or heroic actions. Mr. Speaker, if this bill passes in its current form, not only would it limit medals to two per year, but it would prevent the House of Representatives and the Senate from awarding medals in the future to any group of individuals for their collective heroic deeds, such as those of the hundreds of first responders that perished in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. I am puzzled why we would act to impose such limits on our own ability to recognize the accomplishments of the citizens that we are elected to represent. And I am even more puzzled that we would fix a process that is not broken, that is bipartisan in nature, and that works remarkably well for all Members.”