Washington, D.C.  Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton's (D-DC) bill, H.R. 1000, the Edward William Brooke III Congressional Gold Medal Act, to honor the native Washingtonian, who was the first African American popularly elected to the U.S. Senate, will be on the House floor for a vote on Tuesday, June 10 after 2:00 PM. Norton conceived the idea for the medal during the struggle for the D.C. Voting Rights Act, on which a second Senate vote is expected soon, following a near miss after House passage of the bill last year. Brooke, who is 88 and resides in Florida, was a strong advocate for the rights of D.C. residents when he served in the Senate from 1967 to 1979 as a Massachusetts senator and has been a major advocate of the pending D.C. Voting Rights Act, making calls to senators and urging passage during a book tour last year upon the publication of his autobiography, Bridging The Divide: My Life. He is expected to attend the ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda to receive the medal. In order to get her bill for the medal, the highest congressional award, to the floor, Norton, the chief sponsor along with the Massachusetts delegation, had to get two-thirds of the House to sponsor her bill. Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), the chief Senate sponsor, earlier got two-thirds of the Senate to pass the bill with a bipartisan group of cosponsors, including Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Assistant Majority Leader Richard Durbin (D-IL), Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Senators Ted Stevens (R-AK), John Warner (R-VA), and John Kerry (D-MA).

"Today when the nation is celebrating the breakthrough Democratic nomination of an African American, Senator Barack Obama, Washingtonians take special pride in the historic breakthrough of our native son, Senator Brooke, who had to leave his hometown even to get representation," Norton said. "Senator Brooke did not stop there, however. He went on to achieve the highest state office. Today, when D.C. is seeking its first vote, we are encouraged by the example Senator Brooke set, when few African Americans dared to dream of statewide office. Edward Brooke's achievements speak to the values and the aspirations he received right here from his family, his LeDroit Park community, the D.C. public schools, Dunbar High School, Howard University and Howard Law School." Senator Brooke went to public schools here and served overseas in the armed forces when both were segregated.

The President awarded Brooke the Presidential Medal of Freedom Award, the nation's highest medal, in 2004. In Massachusetts, he also served as the first African American Attorney General of a state that was overwhelmingly white. He achieved high state offices as a Republican in a state that was overwhelmingly Democratic. Senator Brooke also received the Bronze Star, the Distinguished Service Award, and the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit from the Italian Government for his leadership during 195 days in Italy as a captain in World War II for five years in the 366th Combat Infantry Regiment.