[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 682 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        S.682

                       One Hundred Tenth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Thursday,
            the third day of January, two thousand and eight


                                 An Act


 
  To award a congressional gold medal to Edward William Brooke III in 
  recognition of his unprecedented and enduring service to our Nation.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
    This Act may be cited as the ``Edward William Brooke III 
Congressional Gold Medal Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
    The Congress finds as follows:
        (1) Edward William Brooke III was the first African American 
    elected by popular vote to the United States Senate and served with 
    distinction for 2 terms from January 3, 1967, to January 3, 1979.
        (2) In 1960, Senator Brooke began his public career when 
    Governor John Volpe appointed him chairman of the Boston Finance 
    Commission, where the young lawyer established an outstanding 
    record of confronting and eliminating graft and corruption and 
    proposed groundbreaking legislation for consumer protection and 
    against housing discrimination and air pollution.
        (3) At a time when few African Americans held State or Federal 
    office, Senator Brooke became an exceptional pioneer, beginning in 
    1962, when he made national and State history by being elected 
    Attorney General of Massachusetts, the first African American in 
    the Nation to serve as a State Attorney General, the second highest 
    office in the State, and the only Republican to win statewide in 
    the election that year, at a time when there were fewer than 1,000 
    African American officials in our nation.
        (4) He won office as a Republican in a state that was strongly 
    Democratic.
        (5) As Massachusetts Attorney General, Senator Brooke became 
    known for his fearless and honest execution of the laws of his 
    State and for his vigorous prosecution of organized crime.
        (6) The pioneering accomplishments of Edward William Brooke III 
    in public service were achieved although he was raised in 
    Washington, DC at a time when the Nation's capital was a city where 
    schools, public accommodations, and other institutions were 
    segregated, and when the District of Columbia did not have its own 
    self-governing institutions or elected officials.
        (7) Senator Brooke graduated from Paul Laurence Dunbar High 
    School and went on to graduate from Howard University in 1941.
        (8) Senator Brooke's enduring advocacy for self-government and 
    congressional voting rights for the citizens of Washington, DC has 
    roots in his life and personal experience as a native 
    Washingtonian.
        (9) Senator Brooke served for 5 years in the United States Army 
    in the segregated 366th Infantry Regiment during World War II in 
    the European theater of operations, attaining the rank of captain 
    and receiving a Bronze Star Medal for ``heroic or meritorious 
    achievement or service'' and the Distinguished Service Award.
        (10) After the war, Senator Brooke attended Boston University 
    School of Law, where he served as editor of the school's Law 
    Review, graduating with an LL.B. in 1948 and an LL.M. in 1949, and 
    made Massachusetts his home.
        (11) During his career in Congress, Senator Brooke was a leader 
    on some of the most critical issues of his time, including the war 
    in Vietnam, the struggle for civil rights, the shameful system of 
    apartheid in South Africa, the Cold War, and United States' 
    relations with the People's Republic of China.
        (12) President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Senator Brooke to 
    the President's Commission on Civil Disorders in 1967, where his 
    work on discrimination in housing would serve as the basis for the 
    1968 Civil Rights Act.
        (13) Senator Brooke continued to champion open housing when he 
    left the Senate and became the head of the National Low-Income 
    Housing Coalition.
        (14) Senator Brooke has been recognized with many high honors, 
    among them the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004, an honor that 
    recognizes ``an especially meritorious contribution to the security 
    or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural 
    or other significant public or private endeavors''; the Grand Cross 
    of the Order of Merit from the Government of Italy; a State 
    courthouse dedicated in his honor by the Commonwealth of 
    Massachusetts, making him the first African American to have a 
    State courthouse named in his honor; the NAACP Spingarn Medal; and 
    the Charles Evans Hughes award from the National Conference of 
    Christians and Jews.
        (15) Senator Brooke's biography, Bridging The Divide: My Life, 
    was published in 2006, and he is the author of The Challenge of 
    Change: Crisis in Our Two-Party System, published in 1966.
        (16) Senator Brooke became a racial pioneer, but race was never 
    at the center of his political campaigns.
        (17) He demonstrated to all that with commitment, 
    determination, and strength of character, even the barriers once 
    thought insurmountable can be overcome.
        (18) He has devoted his life to the service of others, and made 
    enormous contributions to our society today.
        (19) The life and accomplishments of Senator Brooke is 
    inspiring proof, as he says, that ``people can be elected on the 
    basis of their qualifications and not their race''.
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.
    (a) Presentation Authorized.--The Speaker of the House of 
Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate shall make 
appropriate arrangements for the presentation, on behalf of the 
Congress, of a gold medal of appropriate design to Edward William 
Brooke III in recognition of his unprecedented and enduring service to 
our Nation.
    (b) Design and Striking.--For purposes of the presentation referred 
to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (hereafter in this 
Act referred to as the ``Secretary'') shall strike a gold medal with 
suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the 
Secretary.
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.
    The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold 
medal struck pursuant to section 3 under such regulations as the 
Secretary may prescribe, at a price sufficient to cover the cost 
thereof, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and 
overhead expenses, and the cost of the gold medal.
SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS.
    (a) National Medals.--The medals struck pursuant to this Act are 
national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States 
Code.
    (b) Numismatic Items.--For purposes of section 5134 of title 31, 
United States Code, all medals struck under this Act shall be 
considered to be numismatic items.
SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF SALE.
    (a) Authority To Use Fund Amounts.--There is authorized to be 
charged against the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund, such 
amounts as may be necessary to pay for the costs of the medals struck 
pursuant to this Act.
    (b) Proceeds of Sale.--Amounts received from the sale of duplicate 
bronze medals authorized under section 4 shall be deposited into the 
United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.