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Ms. NORTON. I thank the gentleman from Georgia for yielding.
I thank the gentleman from Georgia for leading this debate. Truly, you are the man to lead this debate on this great civil rights bill that the House is about to give after 206 years. I thank you for coming forward to do so.
I want to praise and offer my gratitude to Democratic leaders for reconciling the important principle of fiscal responsibility, PAYGO as we call it, with the basic principle of voting rights, forsaking neither. H.R. 1906 is particularly appropriate, especially when you consider that D.C. residents have always paid taxes, notwithstanding that the 16th amendment says that only States shall pay taxes.
Mayor Adrian Fenty and Council Chair Vincent Gray yesterday led a march in the wind and the rain on Emancipation Day because 145 years ago Lincoln freed the slaves in the District of Columbia 9 months ahead of the slaves elsewhere. My grandfather, Richard Holmes, was one of those slaves. His son, Richard, entered the D.C. Fire Department in 1902. And his son, Coleman, my father, like his forefathers and like me, have never had a vote in this city.
I am particularly grateful, and I wanted this time especially to thank the 22 Republicans who voted for the bill today, preserving the great tradition of the party of Lincoln for equal rights.
The Constitution was written by men who risked everything for the principle of representation. We should be especially mindful today, perhaps, to dedicate this bill to other men who have risked everything in times of war. 80-year-old retired Wesley Brown, the first black graduate of the Naval Academy and a resident of the District of Columbia, who went to the same high school that I attended, served in three wars, and retired from the Navy as lieutenant commander, but never has had the right to vote. His remarkable life story is chronicled in the book ``Breaking the Color Barrier: The U.S. Naval Academy's First Black Midshipman and the Struggle for Racial Equality.''
Bringing the matter forward, some young men in the District of Columbia are returning from Iraq, and I leave you with a few of their words. I quote Marcus Gray, who spent a year in Iraq in the 299th Engineering Company, who said, ``My father served in the 104th Airborne in Vietnam, and I am proud to follow him by serving my country in the same manner. I could be called again this year, but being called to active duty is what every soldier in the Reserves should expect to happen.
``We also expect equal treatment, and the Army tries hard to see that all soldiers are treated equally. However, I want equal treatment at home as well. I want the same voting representation as other soldiers, and as the Iraqi people have now because of our service.''
Emory Kosh, who works in my office in the House: ``I was proud to serve my country as a volunteer soldier. However, I am not prepared to sit as an employee of the House of Representatives while every Member answers the bell except my Congresswoman.''
Mr. Speaker, I ask the House to give D.C. residents on the battlefield and in the city itself the vote they have earned over and over again. Most of those who have paid the dearest price will never see the benefit. Those in the Vietnam War, the District had more casualties than 10 States; in the Korean War, more casualties than eight States; in World War II, more casualties than four States; and in World War I, more casualties than three States.
In their name, and in good conscience, I ask that the House today finally give the residents of the District of Columbia the vote they have fought for now for 206 years.
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