Norton Calls D.C. Veterans to Capitol to be First Heard on D.C. Statehood Before Tuesday’s Committee Vote

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) at a press conference today made D.C. veterans the first to be heard in advance of Tuesday's House Oversight and Reform Committee mark up and vote on Norton's D.C. statehood bill. There are 30,000 veterans currently living in the nation's capital that have served their country.

The veterans who spoke were Hector Rodriguez, chair of Veterans United for DC Statehood; Robert Vinson Brannum, Chair of the NAACP-DC Veterans Committee; Georgia Eaves, D.C. Chair of the National Association of Black Veterans; and Kyle Smitz, from the Mayor's Office of Veterans Affairs.

Norton's full remarks are below.

"There is a reason that veterans who live in the District of Columbia should be the first to speak in advance of Tuesday's committee vote on D.C. statehood. All D.C. residents are created equal, but not all have given equally.  The men and women you will hear today have given the most. 

"They have served their country voluntarily as members of the Armed Forces, wherever their country chose to send them at risk of their lives.  Unlike the other Americans with whom they served, the veterans who live in their nation's capital had no voting congressional representation.

"I therefore dedicate these remarks today to the 30,000 veterans who live in the District of Columbia, and to many more who have served or died for their country without a vote.  To represent those who gave their lives, I dedicate these remarks to the memory of Specialist Darryl T. Dent, a member of the U.S. Army who, at 21 years old, was killed in Iraq in 2003.

"Taxation without representation is wrong.  Service without representation is worse.  

"D.C. residents have always fought in the Armed Forces, including in the Revolutionary Wwar that created the United States of America.  D.C. residents have always fought for the right to vote for others, yet without having the vote themselves.  

"The veterans who speak today speak for all of us who live in the District, because we all deserve the full vote in the House and Senate as a matter of birthright.  But today's veterans have gone the extra mile and have earned the vote.

"As our Committee votes to send the D.C. statehood bill to the House floor on Tuesday for almost certain passage this year, we will be encouraged and energized to assure that today's D.C. veterans will be the last to serve without the full equality their service demands."