[WardFive] Fw: PRESS RELEASE: Norton Promises Further Action as Republican Majority Denies D.C. Motion to Restore Delegate Vote

 

Albrette "Gigi" Ransom

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Congresswoman Norton <dc00.wyr@housemail.house.gov>
To: DC00 All Staff <AllStaffDC00@housemail.house.gov>
Sent: Tuesday, January 6, 2015 3:44 PM
Subject: PRESS RELEASE: Norton Promises Further Action as Republican Majority Denies D.C. Motion to Restore Delegate Vote

 

Contact: Raven Reeder – o: 202-225-8050, c: 202-225-6245                                                                                            January 6, 2015

 

 

Norton Promises Further Action as Republican Majority Denies D.C. Motion to Restore Delegate Vote

 

WASHINGTON, D.C.—When the Republican majority offered the Rules for the 114th Congress this afternoon,  Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), in an attempt to restore in the Rules the District of Columbia's delegate vote in the Committee of the Whole, offered the required motion to refer the rules to a special committee regarding the delegate vote.  When the delegate vote did not appear in the Rules, Norton knew, of course, that her motion would be denied, but her motion served its purpose as a way to officially, and by a recorded vote, protest the elimination of voting rights for the taxpaying Americans residing in the District of Columbia and to alert the public of the second-class treatment of our residents by the Republican majority.  The vote occurred, as predicted, along party lines—but it put Democrats on record, unanimously, supporting voting rights, and Republicans, unanimously, opposing a vote that was declared constitutional in 1993 by a federal district court and again in 1994 by a federal appeals court.

 

"We intend to use every available opportunity to build towards the equal citizenship rights that come with statehood," Norton said.  "The audacity of stripping a vote for taxpaying residents won fairly by vote of the House and approved by the federal courts was outdone today by the refusal of the House majority to restore the vote of District citizens.  Today's crude abuse of power must drive our determination for a vote that cannot be eliminated and for a status fully equal to our fellow citizens."

 

Yesterday, Norton held a press conference with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and D.C. veteran and former director of the D.C. Department of Veteran's Affairs Kerwin Miller to emphasize the importance of the delegate vote in the Committee of the Whole to District of Columbia residents, particularly those who have served in the military without a vote.

This morning, in speaking at the ceremonial Congressional Black Caucus swearing in, Democratic Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) called on Congress to give Norton a vote.

 

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