Norton to Hold Press Conference with D.C. Veterans, Without a Vote, as Debate on Syria Begins

Press Release

Just before the congressional debate on a military strike on Syria, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) will hold a press conference at the D.C. War Memorial (900 Independence Avenue SW) (directly across from the MLK Memorial), with D.C. veterans on Monday, September 9 at 10:00 a.m. Also offering remarks will be Mayor Vincent Gray, DC Vote Executive Director Kimberly Perry, and two D.C. veterans -- Herbert Tillery and James Rimensnyder. Participants at the press conference will speak about D.C. residents in the military and D.C. residents at home, now facing another congressional debate and another vote on military action, without their own vote in Congress, while meeting all the responsibilities of citizenship, including paying the federal income taxes that fund the nation's wars.

"We cannot allow debate on yet another military action to proceed without speaking out about one of the greatest injustices remaining in our country today -- D.C. residents fighting and dying in wars with no vote on whether to go to war," said Norton. "As Congress is set to debate and vote on military action in Syria, the continuing discrimination against the rights of D.C. residents is amplified. Our residents have been there for their country in all of the nation's wars, including the most recent wars in Kuwait, Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya without a vote only to return to the U.S. still without a vote. The tragedy of this irony must not be smoothed over. We especially need to hear from our veterans, who have shouldered this burden directly and whose repeated sacrifices cry out for remedy."

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