Senators urge top U.S. honor for Myanmar's Suu Kyi

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senators introduced legislation on Wednesday to give the Congressional Gold Medal, America's top civilian honor, to incarcerated Myanmar democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California and Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, both long-time critics of Myanmar's ruling military junta, put forth the bill with bipartisan support of 73 other senators, they said.

Feinstein called Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi "a woman of unrivaled courage and commitment" who offered hope and democracy to Myanmar, formerly called Burma, which has been under military rule of one form or another since 1962.

"This Congressional Gold Medal will not only honor the life and legacy of this remarkable woman, it will also demonstrate to the world that her cause is our cause: a free and democratic Burma," she said in a statement.

The House of Representatives companion bill to the Suu Kyi legislation passed with 400 to 0 vote on Dec 17. and the measure now needs to clear a Senate committee before it can be brought before the full Senate floor, the sponsors said.

Past recipients of the Gold Medal include Winston Churchill, Pope John Paul II, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela and most recently, Tibet's Dalai Lama.

Myanmar violently suppressed a Buddhist monk-led pro-democracy protests in September.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won elections in 1990, but the army refused to hand over power and has detained her for most of the time since then.

The junta this week announced a referendum on a new, as yet unfinished, constitution in May to be followed by a general election in 2010. Major dissident groups have already said they will campaign to reject the military-drafted constitution.

(Reporting by Paul Eckert, editing by Philip Barbara)