Del. Norton to honor fmr Sen. Brooke at award ceremony

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) announced plans to speak at a Congressional Gold Medal award ceremony for a former Republican senator who she said helped get the D.C. Voting Rights Act passed in the upper chamber.

Sen. Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass.) is scheduled to receive the highest congressional honor in the Capitol’s Rotunda on Wednesday, which is also expected to bring appearances and speeches by President Barrack Obama and Congressional leadership.

Brooke, a D.C.-native, helped Norton garner support in the Senate for the voting rights bill by calling former Republican colleagues to vote for the measure, which would give Washington D.C. residents a representational vote in the House, according to Norton’s office.

“Wednesday’s ceremony will help drive home the disempowerment of D.C. residents as Congress gives its highest honor to our native son, who left his hometown, unable to vote for president, mayor, House representative, or senator, and became our nation’s first popularly-elected African American senator,” said Norton in a statement.

The voting rights bill stalled in the House after an amendment that would loosen gun regulations and penalties in D.C. was attached to it, causing moderate Democrats who once voiced support for the measure to grow hesitant.

Recently, lawmakers proposed attaching the voting rights measure to the Defense Appropriations bill, a move that has given Norton a new hope for its eventual passage.

“Norton is encouraged by responses to a detailed proposal she submitted after months of research to attach the bill to the Defense Appropriations bill or to use any of several other ways Norton has found to get a clean D.C. House Voting Rights Act passed,” said Norton’s office in a press release.

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