D.C. VOTING RIGHTS BILL
CLEARS COMMITTEE
IN HISTORIC VOTE
October
9, 2002
WASHINGTON - Landmark legislation that would
give full voting rights to the citizens of the District of
Columbia passed out of the Governmental Affairs Committee
Wednesday and headed to the full Senate.
The
No Taxation Without Representation Act of 2002, (S. 3054),
introduced by Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., calls
for the election of two Senators and a member of the House of
Representatives with rights equal to every other member of the
Houase and Senate.
“We’re
on a march and we’re not going to stop until we get it
done,” Lieberman said after the historic vote.
“This legislation would end a terrible injustice by
giving District residents an equal voice in our democracy.”
The
vote was 9-0, with every Democrat on the Committee voting in
favor of the bill. No Republicans attended the meeting.
The Committee action was the latest step in a long
series of efforts by D.C. residents to gain full voting
representation. The
last major action in the Senate occurred in 1978 when a
constitutional amendment was approved.
Only 16 of the 38 states necessary adopted the
amendment.
The
Governmental Affairs Committee held a hearing on the issue in
May and Lieberman introduced the bill October 3. Co-sponsoring
are Senators Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Russel Feingold, D-Wisc.,
Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Jim Jeffords, I-Vt.,
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and Senator
Barbara Mikulski, D-Md..
The
measure also calls for the permanent membership of the House
of Representatives to be increased by one to 436, and permits
D.C.’s current Delegate to the House of Representatives to
continue in her current position until the elections
contemplated by the bill take place.
“It
is high time the residents of the District of Columbia be
granted their much-belated national birthright,” Lieberman
said, noting the “painfully ironic” timing of the
Committee vote as
Congress prepares to authorize President Bush to use force
against Iraq.
“If
the President has to send our young men and women to Iraq, the
sons and daughters of residents of this city will go willingly
to serve and to sacrifice for their country,” Lieberman
said, “as they have done throughout our nation’s history,
even though they have been denied their rightful franchise.”
Lieberman
said in World War I, the District suffered more casualties
than three states; in World War II , they more than four
states; in Korea, D.C. suffered more casualties than eight
states and in Vietnam, the District suffered more casualties
than 10 states.
“The
residents of this city fight and die for our democracy, but
they cannot participate fully in it.
That’s wrong,” Lieberman said. Calling
Wednesday’s vote a “vote of conscience,” Lieberman added
that “the right to be represented in the national
legislature is fundamental to our core American values.
We cannot allow this injustice to continue
uncorrected.”
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