Norton to Join Mayor Gray and Civil Rights Organizations at Press Conference on DC Riders, Wednesday

Norton to Join Mayor Gray and Civil Rights Organizations at Press Conference on DC Appropriation Riders, Wednesday

June 6, 2011

WASHINGTON, DC - As the markup of the fiscal year 2012 appropriations bills begins, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) will join Mayor Vincent Gray and DC Vote at a Save Home-Rule press conference on Wednesday, June 8, 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. The exact location at the Capitol Complex is to be determined. Joining them will be representatives from each of several national groups whose issues have been targeted for Republican riders in the past. Speakers will discuss their intentions to use their nationwide networks to contact Members of Congress to protect the District's local laws from congressional riders.

"I appreciate the initiative of Mayor Gray and DC Vote, who led the District in protesting the uniquely discriminatory treatment of the city during a near government shutdown and the 2011 federal appropriations fight in April," said Norton. "The Congress avoided all unwanted attachments, but placed two anti-D.C. home-rule attachments in the bill, which included the imposition of private school vouchers and a ban on the use of local funds for abortion services for low-income women. Fortunately, we were spared from a needle exchange ban." However, Norton said that Republicans seldom miss a chance to use the appropriations process to deprive D.C. residents of the same rights they insist upon for their own constituents. Anti-D.C. democracy proponents have all but announced their intentions.

"The new majority's obsession with repeatedly interfering with the District's home-rule in the few months they have had control of the House leaves no doubt about their anti-home-rule fanaticism," said Norton. "For District residents alone, Republicans have thrown out their core principles for self-government and against federal interference. Mayor Gray, our City Council, our ANC's, DC Vote, and D.C. residents courageously came to the defense of home-rule with repeated rallies and arrests after the 2011 appropriations. I am very grateful today that many organizations whose issues have been forfeited in our fight for democracy are joining the city's home-rule fight in a vanguard of opposition to prevent riders from being added on the next fiscal year's D.C. appropriations."

Representatives from DC Vote, the Human Rights Campaign, the Brady Campaign, AIDS United, NARAL Pro-Choice America, the American Civil Liberties Union, National Urban League, People for the American Way, Center for Reproductive Rights, Planned Parenthood, National Abortion Federation, Freedom to Marry, and African American Ministers in Action will also attend Wednesday's press conference.

WHO: Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Mayor Vincent Gray, DC Vote, the Human Rights Campaign, the Brady Campaign, AIDS United, NARAL Pro-Choice America, the American Civil Liberties Union, National Urban League, People for the American Way, the Center for Reproductive Rights, Planned Parenthood, National Abortion Federation, Freedom to Marry, and African American Ministers in Action.

WHAT: Press Conference on D.C. Appropriations Riders

WHEN: Wednesday, June 8, 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

WHERE: Location at Capitol Complex To Be Determined