Norton Thanks McGovern, Democratic Leadership for House Rules that Restore D.C.’s Vote on House Floor in Committee of the Whole
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today thanked Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern (D-MA) and the House Democratic leadership for restoring the District of Columbia's vote on the House floor in the Committee of the Whole in the rules package for the 116th Congress. The Committee of the Whole vote will allow Norton and the other delegates to vote on amendments on the House floor. The House rules have permitted Norton to vote in the Committee of the Whole in three Congresses: the 103rd, 110th and 111th.
"I am grateful to Chairman McGovern and House Democratic leadership for restoring this all-important vote on the House floor to the more than 700,000 taxpaying American citizens I represent," Norton said. "As we take back the majority in the 116th Congress, Democrats are embarking on a pro-democracy agenda, and granting D.C. residents a voice on the floor of the ‘People's House' is the perfect place to start. As I continue to press for statehood, I will not let any other right go unclaimed. The vote in the Committee of the Whole is a down payment for full voting rights for D.C. residents, who pay the highest federal taxes per capita in the nation and have fought and died in all of our nation's wars."
Norton first won a vote for the District of Columbia in the Committee of the Whole during the 103rd Congress, after submitting a legal memorandum arguing that the District had a vote in standing committees by rules of the House and, therefore, should have the similar vote on the House floor in the Committee of the Whole, which is also established by House rules.