Eleanor Holmes Norton: “Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On any given day, if the American people listen to the speakers on the floor of the House of…”

“Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On any given day, if the American people listen to the speakers on the floor of the House of Representatives, they will come to the conclusion that many Members sure do hate government. At the very least, they certainly don't want the Federal Government involved in the lives of the American people in any way. Well, I've come to the floor not to give a lecture, but to offer an explanation because the American people are probably puzzled at something they recently saw. They saw the residents of the Nation's Capital embarking on what I must tell you is a new phase of an old struggle: to preserve the right to local self-government--a battle residents won almost 40 years ago. You would think that the speakers on the floor who hate government would be very quick to say what is also true about themselves. They like local government. They don't want the Federal Government involved with local government or certainly interfering with local government. Yet the very same speakers are the prime movers of interference with the local government of the District of Columbia. So the residents of your Nation's Capital have embarked on a new phase of their struggle.…”