Norton and Davis Cheered by Early Introduction of D.C. Voting Rights Bill (5/1/07)

Norton and Davis Cheered by Early Introduction of D.C. Voting Rights Bill
by Committee Chairman Lieberman and Senior Utah Senator Hatch
May 1, 2007

Washington, DC-Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) and Representative Tom Davis (R-VA) applauded Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), Chairman of the D.C. oversight committee (Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs), and the senior Senator from Utah, Orrin Hatch (R), today as they introduced the D.C. House Voting Rights Act of 2007, to give residents of the District of Columbia and the citizens of Utah new votes in the U. S. House of Representatives.

"I have greatly appreciated discussions with these two longtime friends and could not be happier about their decision to move so swiftly to introduce the Senate companion to our bill, less than two weeks after the historic House passage," Norton said. "Senators Lieberman, Hatch (and Bob Bennett, also of Utah), wrote Senate leaders seeking passage of the bill when we came very close in the House in the last Congress. I have worked closely with both Senators over the years and know first hand their extraordinary skill at getting things done and the respect they enjoy from their colleagues. Our bill couldn't be in better hands."

Davis said, "I am pleased to see this legislation starting to move in the Senate. Under the capable leadership of Senators Lieberman and Hatch, I trust it will be reported out and passed soon, and the people of Washington, D.C., finally can get the representation in Congress they've longed deserved. We spend billions of dollars to bring democracy to places such as Baghdad and Kabul, Afghanistan. It's high time we bring it to the people of the capital of our nation."

Norton and Davis are hopeful that a form of senatorial courtesy, where Members of the Senate often defer to the Senators whose states alone are implicated, will move the bill toward quick passage. This bill affects D.C. and Utah alone and only the House, the Members also said. The two House Members, who worked for four years to get the bill through the House of Representatives, said they believe that rapid passage would be an extraordinary moment for the only country that denies the residents of its capital a vote, and particularly today, as D.C. residents are serving their country on the battlefields while others continue to pay their full freight in income taxes. They asked the Senate to help the People's House live up to its name today when the country is trying to spread democracy around the world.