the point is exactly as you say. There is a constitutional ceiling but there is no floor.

Have our colleagues across the aisle forgotten that the right to a jury trial was as essential a cause of the American Revolution as was representative democracy and the denial of voting rights itself? John Adams said: ``Representative…

The United States is only democratic nation on Earth which disenfranchises the residents of the capital city in its national legislature.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

the inescapable imperative of American history is to give everybody equal rights, equal citizenship, and the right to participate in our government.

Will the gentleman yield?

There is no doubt that people tried to conscript constitutional arguments in the service of opposition to other people's equality.

This is the ridiculousness you get into when you try to draw a Federal city into a teacup.

Union and liberty, this was the cry of Abraham Lincoln and the Republicans in the 19th century. It is the cry of the people of Washington, DC, today who want to join the Union on the basis of equal citizenship and full voting rights.

The only way that we have admitted new states to the Union is through Congress.

It is amazing to me that the political rights of 700,000 people might be conditioned on the business interests of one man.

As I understand it, both Maryland and Virginia ceded land to Congress in 1791 and people continued to vote in Maryland or Virginia.

Very quickly, Ms. Mayor, what is the name of the new state? Mayor Bowser. Washington, DC, Douglass Commonwealth.

Was there anything wrong with or is there anything wrong with committees in Congress or Members of Congress writing to inspectors generals urging them to investigate this or that alleged misconduct?

Have we seen similar kinds of assaults on the independence and integrity of inspector generals in other departments?

And what is the impact of all of these vacancies on public policy?

the leadership was apparently so perturbed and threatened by the IG investigation that they tried to shut it down.

Why is this a problem for the government?

The president hasn't even nominated a candidate for nine of these positions including the Departments of Education, Defense, Treasury, HHS, and the EPA.

I agree with your sense of urgency about the importance of this issue and I think we stand ready in this committee to help however...

the committee is investigating efforts by the Department of Education to interfere with the integrity of its inspector general office and its operations.

I think the whole thing is imaginary. It's like the tooth fairy.

Ordinarily, when we ask government witnesses to come in, they're prepared to answer the questions of the committee.

You're sending this to them in a change of policy which clearly indicates that they're going to be removed or have a very heavy likelihood of being removed from the country.

Can you tell us what role Ken Cuccinelli, the Acting Director of USCIS, played in this decision?