[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 41 (Thursday, March 13, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3734-S3735]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. LIEBERMAN (for himself, Mr. Feingold, Mr. Daschle, Mr. 
        Durbin, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Dodd, Ms. 
        Landrieu, and Mr. Kerry):
  S. 617. A bill to provide for full voting representation in Congress 
for the citizens of the District of Columbia, and for other purposes; 
to the Committee on Governmental Affairs.
  Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the No 
Taxation Without Representation Act of 2003 legislation that will right 
an ongoing injustice experienced by 600,000 American citizens--the 
citizens of the District of Columbia--who have historically been denied 
voting representation in Congress.
  This injustice is felt directly by District residents, but it is also 
a stain on the fabric of our democracy for the Nation as a whole. By 
now, we should all understand that the vote is a civic entitlement of 
every American citizen. It is democracy's most essential right, our 
most useful tool.
  I am proud to be the chief Senate sponsor of this bill, which 
Congresswoman Norton is also today introducing in the House. I am 
delighted that Senator Feingold, who has worked with me for two years 
on this legislation, is joining me again as an original sponsor, as are 
Senators Daschle, Durbin, Mikulski, Schumer, Kennedy, Dodd, Landrieu 
and Kerry. The aim of the legislation is simple: It would provide full 
voting representation in Congress--through two senators and a member of 
the House--to citizens of the District, providing to them the same 
rights to participate in our democracy as citizens in the 50 States. 
Despite this bill's title, it would not exempt residents of the 
District from paying income taxes.
  Last year, the Governmental Affairs Committee, which I then chaired, 
held a hearing on this issue in May. It was the first time since 1994 
that Congress had held a hearing on the issue. Five months later, in 
October, the Committee reported out legislation identical to the bill 
we introduce today. I am proud that we progressed as far as we did last 
year. Unfortunately it was not far enough.
  Today, I think it is particularly ironic--though painfully so--that 
we are introducing this legislation as the Nation stands on the brink 
of a decision

[[Page S3735]]

about war with Iraq to protect our national security. If war does come, 
citizens of Washington D.C. will serve their fellow Americans with 
pride, as they have in every previous war. In fact, the District 
suffered more casualties in Vietnam than the citizens of 10 states. 
Furthermore, over 1,000 Army and Air National Guardsmen and women from 
the District have already been called upon to help in the war on 
terrorism. Yet--to our shame--D.C. citizens cannot choose 
representatives to the legislature that governs them. There is 
something wrong with this picture.
  The people of this city have also been the direct target of 
terrorists, and yet citizens of the District have no one who can cast a 
vote in Congress on policies to protect their homeland security. 
Citizens of Washington, D.C., pay income taxes just like everyone else. 
Actually, they pay more. Per capita, District residents have the second 
highest Federal tax obligation. And yet they have no say in how high 
those taxes will be or how their tax dollars will be spent.
  They fight and die and pay for our democracy, but they cannot 
participate fully in it. How can we countenance this? How can we 
promote democracy abroad effectively while denying it to hundreds of 
thousands of citizens in our Nation's Capital?
  The citizens who live in our Nation's Capital deserve more than a 
nonvoting delegate
  in the House. Notwithstanding the strong service of the Honorable 
Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton and her ability to vote in 
committee, a representative without the power to vote on the floor of 
the House simply isn't good enough.
  Prior to the District's establishment in 1790, residents of the area 
who were eligible to vote had full representation in Congress. When the 
framers of the Constitution placed our Capital under the jurisdiction 
of the Congress, they placed with Congress the responsibility of 
ensuring that D.C. citizens' rights would be protected in the future, 
just as Congress should protect the rights of all citizens throughout 
the land. For more than 200 years, Congress has failed to meet this 
obligation. And I, for one, am not prepared to make D.C. citizens wait 
another 200 years.
  Today, no other democratic nation denies the residents of its capital 
representation in the national legislature. What must visitors from 
around the world think when they come to see our beautiful landmarks, 
our monuments, and our Capitol dome--proud symbols of the world's 
leading democracy--only to learn that the citizens of this city have no 
voice in Congress? What would we do if the residents of Boston, 
Nashville, Denver, Seattle, or El Paso had no voting rights? All those 
cities are roughly the same size as Washington, D.C.--and I know we as 
a Nation wouldn't let their citizens go voiceless in the Congress.
  Incredibly, the vast majority of Americans already believe that D.C. 
residents have voting representation in the Congress. When they are 
informed that they don't, 80 percent of Americans, according to one 
poll, say that they should. That is overwhelming support and by 
righting this wrong, we will be following the will of the American 
people.
  The people of the District of Columbia have been without this key 
right for far too long. I urge all of my colleagues to support this 
legislation.
                                 ______