Edward William Brooke III Congressional Gold Medal Act

Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend, the dean of the Massachusetts delegation, not only for his assistance but for his generosity in yielding to me first on this bill that I sponsored along with him and the entire Massachusetts delegation.

I have to begin by thanking the many, many Republicans and Democrats who are part of the two-thirds that are necessary to award the Congressional Gold Medal. As you are aware, it is a pretty arduous process. In this case, it was not because of the underlying substance of the bill, but because when Members sign on to a bill they obviously have to know something about it. And you have to go from Member to Member.

I am pleased to say that many, indeed most, remembered Senator Brooke, who is alive, and I would say alive and well, if you could talk with him. He has had some illness. I will speak of it in a moment. Of course, it was necessary to remind others of Senator Edward Brooke who became the first African American elected to the United States Senate in 1967 presciently ahead of his time. He was the first popularly elected Black Senator.

I thank Members because I never encountered a Member who didn't see Senator Brooke as a historic figure worthy of the highest award the Congress can give, the Congressional Gold Medal.

Senator Edward Kennedy, of whom the gentleman from Massachusetts spoke, quickly gathered his two-thirds. Our thoughts and prayers are with him. The thoughts and prayers of the American people have been with him since his illness was discovered. He quickly gathered his two- thirds and passed this bill in the Senate. His colleagues understood Senator Brooke's accomplishments in that ``club,'' after all. He was able to get not only his colleagues to sign on quickly but to get the bipartisan leadership. The majority leader, Mr. Reid, the assistant leader, Mr. Durbin were cosponsors. The minority leader, Mr. McConnell, was a cosponsor. Senators Ted Stevens, John Warner and John Kerry were cosponsors. That gives you the flavor of the degree of respect former Senator Brooke enjoys.

Now, I must say for the Record that Senator Brooke is a man who is known for his modesty. He never expected the Congressional Gold Medal. When I approached him to tell him I thought he deserved it, he warned me away from this effort. But he should have expected it. President Bush, 4 years ago, awarded Senator Brooke the Nation's highest medal, the Presidential Medal of Freedom Award. But after all, Senator Brooke was a Member of the United States Congress.

We noted last week the first African American was nominated for the presidency by a major party. The country deserves the self- congratulations it took for the distance it has come and that Senator Obama's nomination signaled.

We must remember, however, that Senator Brooke was elected to the Senate from the State of Massachusetts as a Republican. In 1967 our country was just starting down the road we are traveling and towards the landmark we saw last week. After all, the 1964 Civil Rights Act had just been passed. The 1965 Voting Rights Act had just been passed. We are talking 1967, when Senator Brooks was first elected.

1967 was the beginning of the urban disturbances known as ``the riots,'' which swept the country even before Martin Luther King's assassination, and even before Senator Robert Kennedy's assassination. There was an openly hostile climate to issues affecting race. And racial attitudes were often retrograde.

Mr. Speaker, I began this effort and began to think about Senator Brooke during the struggle for the D.C. Voting Rights Act because the analogies to our struggle and to his seem to me inescapable. Senator Brooke is a native Washingtonian. He spent his entire life in this city. He never left the city until he went to the Armed Forces of the United States of America. The Senator grew up in this city when there was no example of democracy, much less a public official to emulate. There was no vote for President when he grew up in the District of Columbia. There was no self-government at all. The city was run by three commissioners from the Congress of the United States. It had been kept a segregated city by the Congress of the United States. So the medal for Senator has a double symbolic quality for those of us who live in the District of Columbia.

What is most amazing about Senator Brooke is he seemed undaunted by any of the so-called barriers he encountered. The city was as segregated as any southern city in the United States. He went to public schools that will be familiar to D.C. residents--Shaw Junior High School and Dunbar High School were still segregated when I was graduating. He went to Howard University for his college education and then stayed right here to go to Howard Law

School. How could Senator Brooke have thought of himself as a Senator?

He probably, at the time he was at Dunbar and at Howard, did not think about the fact that he would be the first African American attorney general in the United States and the first African American popularly elected to the Senate. He could hardly have thought as a Republican who attained these offices in a heavily Democratic State then and now--that that would be his fate. But he had no fate. He obviously had only his own sense of aspiration of who he was.

During his time in the Senate from 1967 to 1979, Senator Brooke was a strong advocate for the rights of D.C. residents who had nobody, had got home rule only during his time, strong advocate for home rule, got a delegate during his term, pressed hard for that. And he has been a major advocate for the pending D.C. Voting Rights Act, which again I thank this House for passing in 2007. He made calls to Senators urging passage. And during his book tour last year he spoke of the importance of passage of the D.C. Voting Rights Act. His book tour concerned the publication of his autobiography, ``Bridging The Divide: My Life.''

Senator Brooke has breast cancer. Speaking of obstacles, he has regarded his recovery from this disease as an important obligation to educate men about the disease. He obviously has had some of the illnesses associated with being 88 years old, but I must say his robust mind leads me to believe that he will attend the ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda if we award him this medal. It is an amazing accomplishment that with all these strikes against him, he didn't even seem to notice.

So 208 years since the framers of our Constitution expected Congress to grant DC voting rights once it became the capital under its jurisdiction, in this very year when we expect in fact to get that right, I ask this House to do what it has already done for voting rights and to award the Congressional Gold Medal to our native son. We are close to voting rights. It was filibustered, but we believe we can break that now.

I want to leave you with the Senator's own words when we told him that we were seeking the medal for him. He wrote this letter, which I ask to be entered into the Record, to his Republican colleagues, and he wrote a similar letter to his Democratic colleagues or former colleagues here, and I am quoting the Senator: ``As much as I would appreciate such a high honor from my peers, I would place even greater priority on a full House vote for the American citizens who live in my hometown. The right for citizens of the city where I was born and raised was not achieved when I was a Member of Congress. Witnessing the District of Columbia obtain the right to be represented in the House with votes cast by Republicans would mean more to me than any honor that I could achieve as an individual.''

I said he was modest. He means it. I think he means that sentiment. I ask that Senator Brooke be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

March 21, 2007.

Dear Democratic Members: I have written to Republican

Members of the House as a life-long Republican and a native

Washingtonian, who was privileged to serve as the first

African American elected by popular vote to the U.S. Senate

(Massachusetts from 1967-1979). I am writing to Democrats as

well to thank you for your long support of voting rights and

home rule for my hometown, and to ask you to cast your vote

for H.R. 1433, the District of Columbia House Voting Rights

Act of 2007. I grew up in the District when it was as

segregated as other Southern cities, including the city's

public schools, and I was educated at Howard University. We

had no local or federal rights, even to govern ourselves or

to vote for President, and no one to represent our concerns

in the Congress. A Democratic Congress changed all of that

when Democrats and a Republican president granted the

citizens of the nation's capital home rule and a delegate to

the House. Now you have another historic opportunity to grant

these tax-paying citizens the full representation in the

``People's House'' that they deserve.

At 87 years of age, I have had rare privileges and honors

as an American citizen that few Americans, particularly

residents of the District have never enjoyed. At a recent

press conference at the Capitol held by senators to celebrate

my recently published autobiography, I learned that members

of my congressional delegation and others were seeking for me

the highest congressional honor, the Congressional Gold

Medal. I could not help but be overwhelmed, but I had to say

that as much as I would appreciate such a high honor from my

peers, I would place even greater priority on a full House

seat for the citizens of my hometown.

I was elected as the nation's first Black attorney general

and then as the first African American elected by popular

vote to the United States Senate when Black Americans running

for state wide office seemed the stuff of fantasy. However, I

had to leave my hometown to become a Member of Congress or be

represented at all. Nothing would mean more to me,

particularly at this stage in my life, than witnessing

Democrats and Republicans voting together to afford voting

rights to the citizens of the District of Columbia.

I believe that Voting Rights Reauthorization in 2006 and

the D.C. House Voting Rights Act of 2007 are equivalent in

their historic purposes and deep meaning. Both bills are the

same in extending long-denied congressional voting rights,

and in the District's case, to an African American city as

well. I lived in the District until I joined the Army and was

proud to serve as a combat infantry officer in [captain

during] WWII. The experience of living in a segregated city

and of serving in our segregated Armed forces helps explain

why the pending D.C. House Voting Rights Act is so important

to me personally.

I have been heartened by the strong support of the

Democratic leadership and committee chairs and members who

are swiftly bringing this bill to the floor early in the

session. The bill has passed twice by overwhelming majorities

in the Oversight and Government Reform Committee and this

year by a two-to-one vote by the Judiciary Committee. I ask

that you join the large majorities in those committees and

vote for H.R. 1433.

I am grateful for your work and attention to voting rights

for all Americans.

Sincerely yours,

Edward W. Brooke,

U.S. Senator, Retired.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill (S. 682) to award a congressional gold medal to Edward William Brooke III in recognition of his unprecedented and enduring service to our Nation.

Mr. Speaker, this bill was sponsored in the Senate by our very cherished colleague, Senator Kennedy, who served with former Senator Brooke for many years. It has been carried in the House with great vigor and care by our colleague from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton) and I yield her such time as she may consume.

How much time remains, Mr. Speaker?

I yield myself 4 minutes.

I consider it a great honor to be able to stand on the floor of this House and as the Chair of the committee bring out the bill that would honor Ed Brooke. As a citizen of Massachusetts in 1972 and again in 1978, and as a fairly partisan Democrat, I was proud publicly to endorse him for reelection both times to the Senate.

The gentlewoman from the District of Columbia made the point he was the first African American elected attorney general and then to the Senate only shortly after this country officially said segregation was morally and legally wrong. 1954 was the Brown v. Board of Education decision, not made final until 1955 in its decree. Seven years later Ed Brooke is elected attorney general. And as we look back now, it is probably difficult for some people to understand what an important accomplishment that was. But he is not a man who should be honored simply for having broken those barriers, because having gotten the opportunity, he used it.

The committee I chair has jurisdiction over housing. As I work in the housing area, I find myself frequently trying to preserve some of the pioneering efforts on behalf of affordable housing that Ed Brooke created. I was very proud about a month or so ago when he called to say that he liked what we were doing.

I was just reminded, Mr. Speaker, when I was up in our State of Massachusetts over the weekend, that it was in 1978, in his last year in the Senate, that Ed Brooke began the policy of saying that when housing had been built with Federal help with a certain restriction that set it aside for lower

income people and those restrictions expire, it shouldn't be simply sold to the highest bidder, but that public policy ought to make some efforts to preserve it for people who were in need of housing. We are still fighting that fight today.

We have something known as the Brooke amendment, one of the greatest acts of compassion ever to pass this body. It said originally that the poorest of the poor who get housing through various public programs shouldn't be expected to pay more than 25 percent of their income for housing, precisely because they have so little. That was changed, regrettably, in the eighties. I voted against it, but it was changed to 30 percent. But it is still there. It is still the Brooke amendment. It is still a major barrier to a degradation in the quality of life of lower income people, because there are those who would make them pay 40 and 50 and 60 percent of their income, depriving them and their children of the necessities of life. So it is with great pride that we fight and have fought to continue the Brooke amendment.

Senator Brooke was a leader in a number of areas. Yes, he broke the barrier of racism and became the first African American to win statewide office in Massachusetts and then to come to the Senate at a time when racism was even more virulent than it is today. We have made strides in diminishing it.

But, as I said, he didn't just do that. He was a leader in a number of areas, and particularly in the housing area. I don't believe anybody who has ever served in the Congress of the United States has a record that exceeds his.

So I am delighted to join under the leadership of our colleague Senator Kennedy and the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton) in voting for this medal, the second medal, the third medal that Brooke will have gotten, because he got the Presidential Medal of Freedom and he earned the Bronze Medal in World War II, fighting in a segregated outfit, putting patriotism ahead of the indignities to which he submitted in the fight against that terrible tyranny.

This is a medal well earned by a man who exemplified the commitment to the public welfare that we could well remember today.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that because of the energy of a number of people, we are going to be awarding this gold medal to a man who so richly deserves it.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I yield my remaining time to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Moran).

Mr. Speaker, I am about to yield back.

Ed Brooke, in addition to being a superb United States Senator who fought very hard and very effectively for economic fairness and obviously against racial prejudice, but he also was the chief law enforcement officer of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for 4 years.

Just to give people a flavor of that, I will mention one accomplishment. It was under his attorney generalship that the Boston Strangler was prosecuted and imprisoned. So people who may not otherwise be able to relate should know. And if you saw him in the movie, I think he was played by Raymond St. Jacques, but if you go see again the movie of the Boston Strangler, you will see a part of that book. We are here to talk about a number of other parts, including a superb legislative record on behalf of social fairness.

I am prepared to yield back if the gentlewoman is.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

First I ask that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to submit their comments and material on this matter.

Mr. President, the award of a Congressional Gold Medal to our former colleague, Senator Ed Brooke, is eminently well-deserved, and I urge the Senate to approve this legislation.

To all of us who know Ed Brooke, he was an outstanding Senator, a true statesman, a champion of equal justice and opportunity for all, and a man of great conscience and compassion.

Senator Brooke was born in Washington, DC, not far from these Chambers on Capitol Hill, and he graduated from Howard University. He had studied medicine, intending to become a physician, but realized that he was more at home in the fields of literature, political science, and history.

After finishing his degree at Howard, he served our country in World War II as a captain in the Army's segregated 366th Infantry Regiment, which fought with great courage in the Italian theater. During his service, he distinguished himself not only as a gifted leader, but as a skilled defense counsel in court martial proceedings.

Returning from the war, he enrolled in Boston University Law School and became editor of the Law Review. After graduating, he began a successful law practice in Massachusetts and continued his commitment to public service as well. He chaired the Finance Commission of Boston, and specialized in rooting out public corruption. His ability, energy, and dedication won him renown, and he was elected attorney general of Massachusetts, becoming the first African American in the Nation to hold such a position.

In his two terms as attorney general, he became a leader in the battle against organized crime

In 1966, he was elected to the Senate from Massachusetts, the first African-American Senator since Reconstruction. I vividly remember escorting him down the center aisle of this Chamber for his swearing in. At that time, the Senate was deeply involved in enacting the historic civil rights legislation of the 1960s, and I was touched by the magnitude and immense symbolism of that moment for Ed and his family, for African Americans, for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and for the Nation as a whole.

When people question Ed about his significant place in history, his response is always spirited and unchanging. He didn't want to be remembered only as the Senate's African-American Member. During his campaign for attorney general, he had said, ``I'm not running as a Negro. I never have. I'm trying to show that people can be elected on the basis of their qualifications and not their race.''

Ed always saw himself in this light. Despite his other ``firsts,'' he was first and foremost an American and a son of Massachusetts, and it was important to him that his accomplishments and talents speak louder than the color of his skin.

Needless to say, his heritage uniquely qualified him to combat social injustice and stand as an eloquent voice for America's oppressed. He served on President Johnson's Commission on Civil Disorders, which investigated the causes of the race riots in American cities at the time, and the committee's recommendations became a central part of the Civil Rights Act of 1968.

When he spoke on the Senate floor in support of the extending the Voting Rights Act in 1975, he addressed this body with inspiring candor and sincerity. In a time of great turmoil and division, he was a symbol of hope for Americans of color throughout our Nation--hope that our country was changing, hope that the American dream was still alive.

Those who were intent on defeating the Voting Rights Act could not avoid pangs of conscience as Ed declared, ``I cannot believe that in 1975, on the floor of the U.S. Senate, we are ready to say to the American people, black and white, red and brown, that they cannot be assured of the basic right to vote!'' His point was irresistible, and the very next day, the Senate passed the bill.

Ed was passionate about opportunity for all. In his two terms with us, he set a high standard for public service and was a model of senatorial independence, supporting measures on both sides of the aisle that he felt strengthened our country, and improved the lives of all Americans. He was a champion of the minimum wage, a strong voice for Medicare and Social Security, and an effective defender of women's rights. The title of his autobiography, ``Bridging the Divide,'' published earlier this year, says it all. He bridged race, he bridged parties, and defied any conventional categorization.

I remember Ed discussing the difficulty of providing a home for his family after his return from World War II, at a time when race disqualified him from considering certain properties. His plight was characteristic of the struggle experienced by millions of Americans at that time. The Fair Housing Act of 1968 is a tribute to his leadership as a Senator, and long after he left the Senate, he continued the battle for fair housing and opportunity as leader of the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

As Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, ``We must come to see that the end we seek is a society of peace. That will be the day not of the white man, not the black man. That will be the day of man as man.'' Edward Brooke is the embodiment of Dr. King's vision. He was a great Senator among us, he is still a caring public servant. He is a great American, and he certainly deserves this very special tribute from Congress. I urge my colleagues to approve this award of the Congressional Gold Medal to our former colleague, Ed Brooke.

Mr. Speaker, rarely, and rightly it is rare, do we honor one of our own with the highest civilian honor we can bestow, the Congressional Gold Medal. But rules are made to be broken, and just as Ed Brooke broke an unwritten rule and became the first African American popularly elected to the Senate since Reconstruction, we should break another and honor his courage and achievements.

Just as it may be hard for college students of today to imagine segregated bathrooms and drinking fountains, it is hard for all of us to imagine a Congress without African Americans and others of color. So it is especially important to think back to the historic day when this humble man took the oath of office in the Senate 41 years ago on January 3, 1967. The America of that time, as my colleague has noted, was not far past the struggles that led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act, which this Chamber voted a couple of months ago to honor with a commemorative coin.

Mr. Speaker, many of us know the general outline of Ed Brooke's life: a soldier in the Second World War, a lawyer whose 1966 book ``The Challenge of Change'' focused on African Americans in the United States and on politics. I doubt that many Members know though that he was actually a native of the District of Columbia, as the gentlewoman noted.

Born here October 26, 1919, he was a graduate of both Harvard and Boston University and followed in his father's footsteps as a lawyer before being elected Massachusetts Attorney General and then on to the United States Senate, where he served two terms.

Mr. Speaker, this bill was sponsored by our colleague in the Senate, Senator Ted Kennedy, also of Massachusetts, with 67 cosponsors, and he assured its passage before his unfortunate illness. We hope for him and his family the very best. Our prayers are with them. Here in the House a companion bill, H.R. 1000, was sponsored by our colleague Ms. Eleanor Holmes Norton, and she has collected 290 cosponsors.

Mr. Speaker, this bill honors a man, Senator Ed Brooke, but it also honors an idea and an achievement, that we are all equal, and that election to the United States Senate is open to any American who can prove to the voters that his or her ideas and character are appropriate and best represent their State, regardless of race, creed or religion. We should take this opportunity to celebrate that notion.

I urge immediate passage.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, so I will continue to reserve the balance of my time.

I continue to reserve.

Yes.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

I thank my good friend, the chairman of our Financial Services Committee, for the words that he said about Ed Brooke. He would be one to know, another great leader in the area of opening up housing for all. And I thank my good friend from the District of Columbia.

Ed Brooke, as Ms. Norton has made clear, grew up in D.C., graduated from Dunbar, Harvard University, and then, of course, went on to be the editor of the Law Review at Boston University and got a Bronze Medal for his service in the military.

But I got to know Ed Brooke from a different perspective. In fact, Terry Lierman, who is now the chief of staff to our majority leader, and I were on the Appropriations staff when Ed Brooke was the ranking Republican. And what he did is incalculable in terms of school busing, in terms of women's reproductive rights, in the area of opening up federally-subsidized housing particularly, but housing throughout the Nation to all.

Ed Brooke was a temple of justice. His intellect was unparalleled. But what he exuded was a certain class, a dignity that just transcended partisanship. He was able to work with some of the, frankly, most narrow-minded Members of the Senate to get them to take votes that were the right thing to do. And he took very little credit for it. That is why this is so appropriate, to give him credit now, because he made a profound difference in the course our country took 30 years ago.

He would sit there in his calm, measured tone. He would explain why it is right to open up all of society and all of our economy to everyone who was willing to work hard and obey the law.

Ed Brooke was a model that all of us should look to for leadership. He was an extraordinary person. This is an extraordinary action we are taking today, but it is for someone who fully deserves it.

Again, I thank my colleagues here, and I thank the Congress for making this happen today.

I will yield the remainder of my time to Mr. Frank.