[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 95 (Tuesday, June 10, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H5162-H5166]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
EDWARD WILLIAM BROOKE III CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL ACT
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. 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.
The Clerk read the title of the Senate bill.
The text of the Senate bill is as follows:
S. 682
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.
[[Page H5163]]
(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.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule the, gentleman from
Massachusetts (Mr. Frank) and the gentlewoman from West Virginia (Mrs.
Capito) each will control 20 minutes
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Massachusetts.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. 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.
Ms. NORTON. 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
[[Page H5164]]
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.''
{time} 1615
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.
____
March 21, 2007.
Dear Fellow Republican: As a proud life-long Republican, an
African American, and a native Washingtonian, I was not
destined to become a United States Senator when I was elected
in 1966. Yet, I served with some of you as a senator from
Massachusetts (1967-1979). It is the Republican Party that
gave me the opportunity not only to run, but also to serve
statewide in offices that even now are still rare for African
Americans to achieve. The Republican Party allowed me not
only to represent others. The Republican Party allowed me to
be represented in the Congress of the United States. I am
asking you to do the same for the tax paying citizens of my
home town and to vote for passage of the District of Columbia
Voting Rights Act of 2007.
Last year, I was especially proud to watch my party lead
the passage of the reauthorization of the historic 1965
Voting Rights Act and to see a member of my party,
Representative Tom Davis of Virginia, initiate a similar bill
for the District of Columbia. Now you have before you another
historic voting rights bill. At 87 years of age, I have had
rare privileges and honors as an American, including the
nation's highest honor generously given to me two years ago
by President George Bush. 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
American citizens who live in my home town. This 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 many Republicans would mean more
to me than any honor I could achieve as an individual.
I will always be grateful to the Republican party that
pressed and strongly supported my candidacies, as the
nation's first Black attorney general and then as the first
African American elected by popular vote to the United States
Senate. Republicans were first in their willingness to break
ancient barriers, in the 1960's, when Black Americans running
for statewide office seemed the stuff of fantasy. I was able
to run and win because the Republican Party never wavered
because of my race in a state where only two percent of the
residents were Black. I hope you will not hesitate now in
granting my hometown a vote in the House of Representatives
for the first time in the two centuries of the city's
existence as our nation's capital.
The Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King
Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006
and the DC House Voting Rights Act of 2007 are equivalent in
their purposes and their deep meaning. Both bills are the
same in extending long-denied congressional voting rights,
and in the District's case, to a majority Black city as well.
I grew up in the District when it was as segregated as other
Southern cities, including the city's public schools, and 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. I did
not live elsewhere until I joined
[[Page H5165]]
the Army and was proud to serve as a combat infantry officer
during WWII. The experience of living in a segregated city
and of serving in our segregated Armed forces perhaps helps
explain why my party's work on the Voting Rights Act
reauthorization last year and on the pending D.C. House
Voting Rights Act has been so important to me personally. The
irony, of course, is that I had to leave my hometown to get
representation in Congress and to become a Member. Nothing
would mean more to me, particularly at this stage in my life,
than witnessing Republicans and Democrats voting together to
afford voting rights to the citizens of the District of
Columbia.
H.R. 1433 has been passed twice by overwhelming majorities
by the Oversight and Government Reform Committee and once by
a two-to-one vote by the Judiciary Committee. I ask that you
join those Republicans and Democrats in voting for H.R. 1433
on the House floor.
I am deeply grateful to you for your work and attention to
voting rights for all Americans.
Sincerely yours,
Edward W. Brooke,
U.S. Senator, Retired.
Senator Edward Kennedy, the Massachusetts delegation, Congressional
Black Caucus Chair Carolyn C. Kilpatrick, and I are proud to introduce
the Edward William Brooke III Congressional Gold Medal Act. Senator
Edward Brooke has been much honored as an outstanding two-term senator
(1967-1979) who is still remembered for his courage and independence on
the difficult issues of his time--from the Vietnam War to his leading
work in the passage of the Fair Housing Act of 1968. President Bush
awarded Senator Brooke the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004. At
87, his autobiography, Bridging the Divide: My Life tells the Senator's
remarkable story. That story began here in the District of Columbia,
where Senator Brooke was born and raised, and graduated from Dunbar
High School and Howard University. Senator Brooke rose to the rank of
captain in the segregated 366th Infantry Regiment in the U.S. Army, and
won a Bronze Star Medal and the Distinguished Service Award. His
autobiography reads like a personal and political adventure of a man
born in the segregated capital, a city with no local elected officials
or Members of Congress, who went on to become the first African
American official elected statewide, when he won election as Attorney
General, the second highest office in the state, and the only
Republican to win statewide election that year. In 1966, Senator Brooke
became the first African American elected by popular vote to the Senate
of the United States. ``Trailblazer'' does not aptly describe the
courage it took for an African American to run, much less win state-
wide office as a Republican in a predominately Democratic state, where
2 percent of the population was African American.
I take special pride and pleasure in introducing this bill in the
House, along with the Massachusetts delegation and the chair of the
Congressional Black Caucus. My Massachusetts colleagues justifiably
claim Senator Brooke as a son of Massachusetts. We in the District
concede that Massachusetts voters also deserve credit in refusing to
allow racial barriers, that still remain formidable in most States,
overwhelm Senator Brooke's qualifications for high office. However, I
hope that Massachusetts citizens will forgive the residents of the
Senator's hometown if we insist that Edward William Brooke III be
counted the adopted son of Massachusetts. Senator Brooke's family, the
District of Columbia Public Schools, Howard University, and the proud
African American community both sheltered and prepared him for his
remarkable life and service to the people of Massachusetts and the
Nation.
We are especially grateful for the Senator's devotion to H.R. 328,
the District of Columbia Fair and Equal House Voting Rights Act of
2007. Senator Brooke has worked devotedly for passage of the pending
legislation. While in the Senate, he never forgot that his hometown had
no Senator and needed him, too. Speaking on the Senate floor for
passage of the Voting Rights Amendment in 1978, Senator Brooke made it
clear, as he does today, that this matter also was personal for him. He
said, in part, ``[M]y enthusiastic endorsement of House Joint
Resolution 554 is based primarily on fundamental concepts of liberty
and justice, but my support and interest are also intensely personal,
for my roots are in Washington, DC. I was born and raised here. I
attended and graduated from Shaw Junior High School, Dunbar High
School, and Howard University. For as long as I can remember, I have
fought, along with family and friends and colleagues, to attain the
goal of providing for the citizens of the District of Columbia the same
rights and privileges that other citizens throughout the Nation have
enjoyed.'' Because the Congressional Gold Medal is the highest honor
that Congress can bestow, it is necessary that at least 290
Representatives and 67 Senators sign on as cosponsors. I urge every
Member of the House and Senate to become cosponsors before the end of
Black History Month on February 28th.
Mrs. CAPITO. 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. FRANK of Massachusetts. How much time remains, Mr. Speaker?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman has 8 minutes left.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. 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
[[Page H5166]]
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.
Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, so I will
continue to reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. I yield my remaining time to the
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Moran).
Mr. MORAN of Virginia. 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.
Mrs. CAPITO. I continue to reserve.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. 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.
Mrs. CAPITO. Yes.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. 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.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Massachusetts?
There was no objection.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank) that the House suspend the
rules and pass the Senate bill, S. 682.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the Senate bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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