significantly fewer Gold Medals have been awarded). The main difference between them is that the Presidential Medal of Freedom is personally awarded by the President of the United States, while Congressional Gold Medals are awarded by Acts of Congress. Congress may, however, authorize the President to present the award. Per committee rules, legislation bestowing a Congressional Gold Medal upon a recipient must be co-sponsored by two-thirds of the membership of both the House of Representatives and the Senate before their respective committees—the House Committee on Financial Services and the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs—will consider it. A Congressional Gold Medal is designed by the United States Mint to specifically commemorate the person and achievement for which the medal is awarded. Medals are therefore different in appearance, and there is no standard design. Congressional Gold Medals are considered non-portable, meaning that they are not meant to be worn on a uniform or other clothing, but rather displayed. In rare instances, miniature versions have been made or converted for wear on clothing, suspended from a ribbon. Examples are the Cardenas Medal for Frank H. Newcomb, the Jarvis Medal for David H. Jarvis, the Jeannette Medal for the men of the Jeannette expedition, the Byrd Antarctic Expedition Medal for the men of the First Byrd expedition of 1928–1930, and the NC-4 Medal for the men who completed the first transatlantic flight in May 1919. The latter was authorized in 1935 by allowing the Secretary of the Navy to authorize—at his discretion—the wearing of commemorative or other special awards on Navy or Marine Corps uniforms, in military-sized form. Often, bronze versions of the medals are struck for sale by the U.S. Mint, and may be available in both larger and smaller sizes. In at least one case, the John Wayne Congressional Medal, private dealers bought large numbers of the bronze version. They were then gold plated and resold to the public for a significant profit. The Congressional Gold Medal is distinct from the Medal of Honor, a military decoration for extreme bravery in action, and from the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, presented by NASA for extraordinary accomplishment in United States space exploration. Recipients See also Awards and decorations of the United States government Congressional Silver Medal Congressional Bronze Medal Thanks of Congress References Further reading Snowden, James Ross (1809–1878) (1861). A Description of the Medals of Washington; and of Other