[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 682 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 682

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 17, 2007

  Mr. Kennedy (for himself, Mr. McConnell, Mr. Reid, Mr. Warner, Mr. 
Kerry, Mr. Stevens, Mr. Domenici, Mr. Coleman, Mr. Gregg, Mr. Cochran, 
 Ms. Snowe, Mr. Enzi, Mr. Akaka, Mr. Baucus, Mr. Bingaman, Mr. Biden, 
  Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Brown, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Cardin, Mrs. Clinton, Mr. 
  Dorgan, Mr. Durbin, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Harkin, Ms. Klobuchar, Ms. 
Landrieu, Mr. Lautenberg, Mr. Lieberman, Mr. Levin, Mr. Menendez, Mrs. 
Murray, Mr. Obama, Mr. Reed, Mr. Rockefeller, Mr. Salazar, Mr. Schumer, 
    Mr. Tester, Mr. Webb, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Bayh, Ms. 
 Mikulski, and Ms. Stabenow) introduced the following bill; which was 
read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  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.
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