Eleanor Holmes Norton: “This Republican majority endlessly touts their support of local affairs--a lie, as long as that principle stops at the…”

“This Republican majority endlessly touts their support of local affairs--a lie, as long as that principle stops at the District of Columbia border, and Republicans interfere with the spending and laws of a local jurisdiction not their own. Pardon me for being angry, but I remind my colleagues that the 700,000 American citizens who live in the District of Columbia pay the highest Federal taxes per capita in the United States and have fought and died in every war since the Revolutionary War; yet they have no voting representation on this House floor, even on their own appropriation, and no representation in the Senate at all. These riders amount to bullying that takes unfair advantage of the District of Columbia. No wonder we are making headway on our D.C. statehood bill, but it should not take statehood. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has again expired. Mr. McGOVERN. I yield the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia an additional 30 seconds.”