David Obey: “the gentleman from Oklahoma says that the District of Columbia should not be able to use taxpayers' dollars to petition…”

“the gentleman from Oklahoma says that the District of Columbia should not be able to use taxpayers' dollars to petition for the right to be represented in this body. What he forgot to tell us is that it is their money. Each of us represents half a million people, and we cast a vote on their behalf in this chamber. This bill says that the city cannot even use its own money to pursue the right in court to have their own voting representative. Now, one may disagree with their right to have that idea, but to say that the City cannot use its own resources and has to depend on private fund raising in order to achieve a public right is, to me, the ultimate act of antidemocratic arrogance. These are Americans we are talking about. These are taxpayers we are talking about. Yet, we say that they have to go hand in hand to raise private money in order to achieve their own public rights. That is outrageous to be heard in any democratic institution. If big brother is going to tell the City what their own ordinances can contain, then at least that City ought to have a voting right in this body, and they ought to be able to use their own resources in order to try to achieve that end. If he disagrees with the idea that they ought to have a voting right in this body, so be it. But they have a right to use their own money the way their own local taxpayers want it to be used, not the way the gentleman from Oklahoma thinks is correct. That is the ultimate big brother arrogance.”