Albrette "Gigi" Ransom
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----- Forwarded Message -----
From: DC Statehood <dcstatehoodyeswecan@verizon.net>
To:
Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2012 2:17 AM
Subject: D.C. budget autonomy bill pulled after Rand Paul offers amendments on guns, abortion, unions
From: DC Statehood <dcstatehoodyeswecan@verizon.net>
To:
Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2012 2:17 AM
Subject: D.C. budget autonomy bill pulled after Rand Paul offers amendments on guns, abortion, unions
As Brookland resident Josh Burch has pointed out, the "incremental" approach to getting our rights doesn't get us anywhere. If just gets us the Rand Pauls of the world trying to do to us what they can't do to their own constituents. What the people of D.C. need to be full Americans with the same rights as everyone else is statehood. Only statehood is permanent and can't be revoked. States must be admitted "on equal footing" with all other states so Congress couldn't discriminate against the State of New Columbia and it only takes one law to be passed to make us a state. As we approach July 4th and the celebration of our national independence day, please remember those glorious words penned by Thomas Jefferson --
"We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness -- That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed ..." (italics added) --
and remember that though the people who lived in what is now D.C. fought and died in the American Revolution, we do not have the right to self-government and have not consented to our lack thereof. This is the last great civil right/civil liberty issues in the United States and has gone on for over TWO CENTURIES! Please ask your family, friends, neighbors, coworkers and the eprson you sit next to on the Metro, who are citizens of a state, to contact their Senators and Representative and demand that they vote for statehood for the District of Columbia by passing H.R. 265, the New Columbia Admission Act. Only then, will we have a reason to celebrate the 4th of July!
Ann Loikow
D.C. Statehood - Yes We Can!
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-wire/post/rand-paul-seeks-to-change-district-laws-on-guns-abortion-unions/2012/06/26/gJQAOTTf4V_blog.html (bolding added)
UPDATE: D.C. budget autonomy bill pulled after Rand Paul offers amendments on guns, abortion, unions
This post has been updated.
UPDATE: The bill to give budget autonomy to the District has been pulled from Wednesday's schedule, after negotiations between Democrats and Sen. Rand Paul's (R-Ky.) office failed to produce any agreement on his proposed amendments.
ORIGINAL POST:Add Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) to the list of Republicans eager to change the District's laws on guns, abortion and labor unions.
Ahead of a scheduled Wednesday morning markup of a bill to give D.C. budget autonomy, Paul has proposed a handful of amendments that could delay consideration of Sen. Joseph Lieberman's (I-Conn.) measure, once again tying controversial add-ons to a key legislative priority for District leaders.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) wants to change the District's laws on a host of topics. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
But Paul's proposed amendments could prompt supporters of District budget autonomy to ask Lieberman to pull his bill.
"The status right now is uncertain. There's a lot of concern about amendments that have been filed," Lieberman said Tuesday afternoon. He said he would decide "by the end of the day" whether his Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee would proceed with the bill, and that he had essentially left the decision up to District leaders.
In November, city officials asked Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) to put off consideration of his D.C. measure because it included a ban on the city spending its own money to pay for abortions. And in 2010, Democrats shelved a bill that would have granted the District a voting member of Congress because gun-rights supporters threatened to attach language loosening the city's firearms laws.
One Paul amendment would require the District to allow residents to obtain concealed weapon permits for handguns, and would require the city to honor permits issued to residents of other states. Another amendment would make the District "establish an office for the purpose of facilitating the purchase and registration of firearms by DC residents," in response to reports that there is only one licensed gun dealer in the city.
Paul has also submitted an amendment to codify the city-funded abortion ban. The prohibition — a continuing source of frustration for local leaders that is strongly supported by anti-abortion groups — has been extended via appropriations bills every year that Republicans have controlled one or both chambers of Congress since the mid-1990s.
Paul proposed another amendment saying "membership in a labor organization may not be applied as a precondition for employment" in the District, and protecting employees "from discrimination on the basis of their membership status" in a union.
"I think it's a good way to call attention to some issues that have national implications," Paul said in an interview Tuesday. "We don't have [control] over the states but we do for D.C."
Asked his view on the District's lack of voting representation in Congress, Paul said: "I don't know what the answer to that is. It's an anomaly, but it's an anomaly that we've lived with for a long time and I don't see it changing."
The son of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.), Rand Paul has become popular in his own right within the conservative movement and has been discussed as a possible presidential contender in 2016 and beyond.
By | 02:49 PM ET, 06/26/2012
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Selected Comments:
"I think it's a good way to call attention to some issues that have national implications," Paul said in an interview Tuesday. "We don't have [control] over the states but we do for D.C."
And this is why any kind of district autonomy is continue to fail. Congress uses DC as their own private little test study and they have zero desire to let that power go. They're not beholden to their constituents there because...oh yeah, right...DC residents have no real representation.
And this is why any kind of district autonomy is continue to fail. Congress uses DC as their own private little test study and they have zero desire to let that power go. They're not beholden to their constituents there because...oh yeah, right...DC residents have no real representation.
This is never going to change. Best to move to Maryland or Virginia.
DC Residents and our budget are being held hostage by members of Congress. How convenient to pull this stunt while Mayor Gray is travelling out of the Country. To quote Mayor Gray from last fall - "It's time for the people of the District of Columbia to stand up and say we want to be treated like anybody else."
Actually, we ARE subjects. We have no vote in the House or the Senate we are subject (there's that word again) to whatever the Congress wants to force on us. It wasn't too long ago that the Congress made it illegal to count the votes in a local election that certain Congressmen didn't think should have been held.
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Comment from Statehood activist Josh Burch of Brookland, D.C.
Rand Paul: Enemy of the 51st State
Rand Paul is not our friend, quite frankly, earlier today he showed that he's both a shameless hypocrite and an opponent of democracy. Never mind the needs of the people of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Senator Rand Paul is busying himself acting like a local legislator here in the District of Columbia. We are 618,000 tax-paying Americans (more people than the state of Wyoming) who have no representation in Congress and lack autonomy over our own local affairs. Our 'state' budget is similar to that of Kentucky with 75% of our state budget coming from local dollars whereas in Kentucky 76% of your state budget comes from state taxes and fees. Senator Paul, in the last week has decided to impose his will and beliefs on legislation that affects the District of Columbia and its people only. We have a local Council to make our laws; we did not elect Rand Paul to write our laws. His actions have rightfully caused leaders in the Senate to pull the bill, a deal like this with Senator Paul is like a deal with…well, you know who.
While we appreciate his concern for us, we, quite frankly, do not need or want his help. In fact, we don't really appreciate his concern because we see it for what it is: political pandering and shameless showboating. He was elected by the people of Kentucky to represent them on local and national issues, not issues affecting the District of Columbia. He has spent his career speaking out against the federal government forcing states to do things against their will, yet now he finds it convenient to promote and extend the long arm of the federal government, which he so hates, to impose national issues on to those of us in the District and exploit our lack of representation in Congress.
Our country and the Commonwealth of Kentucky are dealing with issues of war and peace, the role of government in health care and immigration, and working to find solutions to our economic woes. Amidst these urgent issues, Senator Paul seems to have time to micromanage the affairs of a city with "Home Rule". We are by no means a perfect place, but no state is (See the woes of Illinois' recent governors). We are like the people of Kentucky in many ways but one: we are taxed but have no representation. As the 4th of July comes upon us, I ask that the people of Kentucky and the nation as a whole remind Senator Paul of the words within the Declaration of Independence that state that "government derives its power from the consent of the governed."
We did not elect Rand Paul. We did not give him our consent to govern us. The people of Kentucky did, and so we ask that they please take him back and have him work on the issues that are a priority to the people of Kentucky. We ask that they further request that he supports the New Columbia Admission Act the only constitutional path to grant the citizens of the District of Columbia full and equal citizenship rights as the 51st state in this great Union.
To my friends and relatives in Kentucky please give Rand Paul's office a call and tell him to mind Kentucky's business not the District of Columbia's: http://www.paul.senate.gov/
A sad reminder of why Statehood is our only solution. Let's keep educating, organizing, and fighting for our right to be full and equal U.S. citizens.
Josh
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