District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act of 2007--Motion to Proceed
Floor Speech
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA HOUSE VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 2007--MOTION TO PROCEED -- (Senate - September 18, 2007)
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Mrs. CLINTON. Mr. President, Our Nation was born out of a struggle against taxation without representation. Yet even as we endeavor to promote democracy around the world, it is alarming that we deny our own American citizens who live in the District of Columbia the right to representation in Congress. The nearly 600,000 residents of the District of Columbia have been denied voting representation in Congress for over 200 years. But this is not just an injustice perpetrated on DC residents. Their disenfranchisement tarnishes our democracy as a whole. The right to be represented in the national legislature is fundamental to our core American values, and for that reason, I am proud to cosponsor the District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act of 2007.
There is no principled basis for the disenfranchisement of the District's residents. After the Nation's Capital was founded, citizens who lived in the District were represented by congressmen from Maryland or Virginia. They were able to make themselves heard in Congress. It was only in 1801 that Congress chose to strip the District of voting rights. As a result of this decision, for more than 200 years, the District's residents have been taxed like other Americans but have been denied a vote in the Nation's legislature. It is Congress that took away the District's representation. After two centuries, it is time for us to fix that mistake. The District's residents deserve a voice in how the Nation is governed.
The people of this city are proud Americans. They pay their taxes. They serve with honor and distinction in our military. But yet we deny them the ability to fully participate in our democracy. The legislation before us goes a long way towards righting this wrong by giving the residents of the District representation in Congress that is long overdue.
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