Political Quotes

“I thank the gentlewoman for yielding and for her tremendous leadership over time to remove obstacles of participation to our democracy, whether it is a voting rights act for all, or whether it is observing the 100th anniversary of women having the right to vote, and whether it is about giving full participation in our democracy to the District of Columbia. I am proud to join her in wearing this mask. It says ``51st,'' and that is why this legislation is H.R. 51, D.C. statehood, which I will talk about now. But Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton has been brilliant, relentless, persistent, dissatisfied about the lack of full participation for her constituents in the work of Congress. So I salute her as the patron saint and guiding star of D.C. statehood, even before she came to Congress, but since she came to Congress, she has worked tirelessly and relentlessly to build historic support for this bill. She gives us the honor of participating in this historic vote, wherein the House of Representatives, for the first time, will vote for statehood for the District. D.C. statehood, Mr. Speaker, is both an official and a personal priority for me. My colleagues have heard me say this, but I will say it again. When I was born, my father was a Member of Congress from Baltimore, Maryland. He was on the Appropriations Committee, and he served as the chair of the D.C. appropriations subcommittee.…”