WASHINGTON (AP) – Only about 300 people have received the Congressional Gold Medal since George Washington got the first one – recent names include Ronald and Nancy Reagan, Nelson Mandela and Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz – but some lawmakers say too many are being handed out.

The House voted Wednesday to slow the gold rush by restricting the medal, its highest award, to two a year.

Groups could no longer be honored – that would have excluded the Navajo code talkers of World War II, winners in 2000 – and posthumous medals could be presented only during a 20-year period beginning five years after a person’s death.

The rule changes, approved 231-173, arose from concern that the distinction was being diluted by overuse.

The changes could mean an end to joint awards such as those given to the Reagans and to Martin Luther King Jr. and his widow, Coretta Scott King. Jackie Robinson, who broke the color line in baseball, would have been dead too long when he got the award in 2003. House Speaker Sam Rayburn, honored a year after his death in 1961, wouldn’t have been dead long enough.

“The luster and the importance and the meaning of a congressional gold medal will be tarnished if we do not limit the number we award,” said Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del., sponsor of the measure.

Congress has approved some 130 medals to honor about 300 individuals and groups for distinguished achievements and contributions to the nation.

For the first 80 years the award went to military heroes such as Washington, John Paul Jones and Andrew Jackson, but the program now includes entertainers, scientists, athletes and humanitarians.

The Wright Brothers and Charles Lindbergh have won. So have Colin Powell and Frank Sinatra. Walt Disney and Howard Hughes. Mother Teresa. Boxer Joe Louis and Western writer Louis L’Amour.

In the past three Congresses, since 1999, there have been 13 awards, including civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks, Pope John Paul II, the code talkers and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Castle noted that he had played a part in the increase. A decade ago Congress passed his bill to limit commemorative coins, and lawmakers began turning more often to the gold medal.

Under the legislation, which still must be passed by the Senate, there would presumably – the strict interpretation of the act is still unclear – be no more joint awards such as those that have also gone to Gerald and Betty Ford and Billy and Ruth Graham. Also ruled out would be the 1979 award to the American Red Cross or the award bestowed on 29 of the original Navajo code talkers.

Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y., led his party’s opposition to the bill, saying “we are rushing to act on an issue that does not represent a problem.” He asked, “Who of the individuals who received this medal in the past were not worthy of it.”