Eleanor Holmes Norton: “Before I discuss the substance of this bill, I want to discuss democracy and the lack of it in the District of Columbia.…”

“Before I discuss the substance of this bill, I want to discuss democracy and the lack of it in the District of Columbia. D.C. residents, who have all the obligations of American citizenship, have no voting representation in Congress, and Congress has the ultimate say on local D.C. matters. While my Republican colleagues are correct that Congress has the constitutional authority to legislate on local D.C. matters, their assertion that Congress has a constitutional duty to do so is simply wrong. Legislating on local D.C. matters is a choice. As the Supreme Court held in 1953, ``there is no constitutional barrier to the delegation by Congress to the District of Columbia of full legislative power.'' D.C.'s local legislature, the council, has 13 members. The members are elected by D.C. residents. If D.C. residents do not like how the members vote, they can vote them out of office. That is called democracy. Congress has 535 voting Members. The Members are elected by residents of their States. None are elected by D.C. residents. If D.C. residents do not like how Members vote on local matters, they cannot vote them out of office. That is the antithesis of democracy. The merits of this bill should be irrelevant, since there is never justification for Congress legislating on local D.C. matters. However, I will discuss the bill. This bill would be the biggest rollback of D.C.'s self-government in a generation. This bill says the D.C.…”