Hon. Michael G. Oxley: “Let me, in closing, Mr. Chairman, indicate, first of all, my respect for the Members who have undertaken the…”

“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.”