Eleanor Holmes Norton

I am pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Clarke), the ranking member of the Cybersecurity Subcommittee of the Committee on Homeland Security.

I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. O'Rourke), an original cosponsor of H.R. 3463, the House companion version of S. 1691.

I want to thank you, Mr. Chairman, again, for your friendship, for your service, and for the respect you have shown for the American citizens who live in the District of Columbia who demand to be treated as free and equal Americans, and…

That is why this bill, in many ways, is so sensitive. It doesn't supplant any of the assistance that is necessary, like Medicaid and their own insurance that they may have or SSI. My own daughter, Katherine Felicia Norton, was the Global…

A new generation of young people of every race is demonstrating nonviolently to make sure that the larger meaning of the Michael Brown tragedy is not lost. His death has become much more than a moment of anguish. Michael Brown has…

That's very reassuring.

Wouldn't it be honest in the next budget when the agency goes to the OMB to ask for whatever funds it would take to begin implementation of this so that we're not stalled by agencies having to look to whether or not it has funds?

It's going to cost more than that?

It will save so much money in the long run perhaps even the short run.

He was always willing to do that and to help us in the Senate as well.

This chairman never let those differences... require or thought that I should change my view on those national issues.

I cannot thank you enough for the way in which you have upheld the principle of Democratic local government.

This 2020 date that was set some time ago is a fiction.

It is murder flying today. It is murder.

Thank you to the two Democratic Representatives, Blumenauer and Polis, and Republican Representative Rohrabacher who stood with the District of Columbia for letting our marijuana reform bill stand today. Although Blacks and Whites smoke…

And I just wanted to join the chairman in his remarks about this bill. This bill is the quintessential efficiency bill. We have been doing the same thing over and over again until the chairman got the bright idea that maybe we should start…

What I really want is to be an equal citizen of this Republic, not to shirk our responsibilities.

The right was given us by God. I am here to say enough.

Fulfillment of an indenture as old as America itself.

Taxation without representation is enough to make people want to dump crates of tea into the Potomac River.

Only statehood makes us whole. Any other solution glosses over the inherent inequity in our subjugation and perpetuates our second-class citizenship.

Extending representation and self-governance to the District of Columbia residents is one of the highest legislative priorities.

We do not wish, Mr. Chairman, to be second-class stepchildren in the union, or voyeurs of democracy as you vote on how much in taxes we will pay or how many of our sons and daughters will go to war.

You have been very energetic in helping us in many significant ways.

The District of Columbia is not just a collection of government offices, museums and monuments. It is a home to a little more than 632,000 people.