Norton Winds Up Work to Bring DC Voting Rights to the House Floor Next Thursday

Norton Winds Up Work to Bring D.C. Voting Rights to the House Floor Next Thursday

WASHINGTON, DC - Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today confirmed that she expects the D.C. House Voting Rights Act to come to the House Floor by next Thursday. The Congresswoman is home with Laryngitis today, but issued the following statement:

"I have spent the last year working to get a clean D.C. Voting Rights bill, and have led the opposition to a gun attachment to the bill in Congress and in the city. However, the strength of gun forces in the Congress has grown, not diminished, over the year since we began working, first to get a clean bill, and, if not, to reach a compromise on the gun amendment. It is now clear that the gun amendment can be passed as a stand-alone bill or attached to another piece of legislation, and we see no better opportunity in sight for voting rights for our residents. The Democratic majorities in the Senate and in the House are already diminishing and are expected to be reduced even further. Moreover, this is the first time we have had a president in office who will sign the bill along with majorities in Congress to pass it. I have given this fight all that I had. There is nothing left to do but make the hard decision. I believe residents would not want us to pass up this once-in-a-life-time opportunity for the vote they have sought for more than two centuries.

"I am particularly grateful to our leaders, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca.), House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) who have worked tirelessly, directly with us for a bill that can pass both houses this year."