Eleanor Holmes Norton: “As the House recesses, I want to call Members' attention to something I hope they will consider over the recess, this…”

“As the House recesses, I want to call Members' attention to something I hope they will consider over the recess, this year's record attacks in the form of riders or undemocratic additions to the D.C. appropriation and how that makes the best case for statehood for the District of Columbia. I need to report to the House the remarkable progress we are making on D.C. statehood. We are closing in on 100 percent of Democratic House Members as cosponsors of the D.C. statehood bill. In the Senate, where the District has no representation, we have more than half of the Democratic Senators. Before this session is over, we are striving for 100 percent, certainly, of Democrats in the House and even in the Senate as we go over to the Senate to also make the case without having any representation there. That is why I am so grateful to the Senators who have understood the importance of equality for the 700,000-- equality of citizenship, I should say--for the 700,000 American citizens who live in the Nation's Capital. In the face of that good news on statehood, you would think that there would be applause from the Congress, who sits in the home district of the District of Columbia. But recently, there have been a spate of undemocratic riders, that is, attempts to amend the District's appropriation. What is the District's appropriation doing here? That is the nub of the problem. It shouldn't be here. When I first came to Congress, there were actually hearings held on the D.C.…”