[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 2 (Thursday, January 6, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E34-E35]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           HONORING DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA SERVICEMEN AND WOMEN

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, January 6, 2005

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, we honor all who serve our country in the 
military. However, the men and women of the District of Columbia who 
volunteer for military service are entitled to special honors. D.C. 
residents who serve today are the most recent in a long line of 
citizens of the District who have fought and died for our country, 
although they did not have the same democratic rights as their fellow 
citizens and fellow soldiers.
  I ask the House of Representatives to honor the residents of the 
District of Columbia who have served in every war since the 
Revolutionary War of 1775, by recognizing three young men today who 
served in the Iraqi War, Marcus Gray, Emory Kosh, and Isaac Lewis. We 
also honor members of the military from the District, including the 
D.C. National Guard, who have served or are serving in Afghanistan and 
throughout the world, especially those who have lost their lives.
  Specialists Gray, Kosh and Lewis were members of the U.S. Army 
Reserves, 299th Engineer Company and part of the first wave of soldiers 
who entered Iraq in March 2003.

[[Page E35]]

The three graduates of Ballou, Eastern, and Dunbar High Schools in the 
District were working or in college when they were called to serve. 
They spent nearly a year in Iraq exposed to great danger. Two of the 
three may be redeployed this year.
  Just as these three soldiers stepped forward without hesitation to go 
overseas in time of war, they step forward now to speak for the cause 
of democracy at home. These three men welcome the enthusiasm of many 
Iraqis as they prepare to elect voting representatives to their 
national legislature on January 30. All three know that the coming 
elections in Iraq and the successful elections held in Afghanistan in 
October were made possible by the service and sacrifices of the members 
of their company, and other coalition troops, the great majority of 
whom were American citizen soldiers, and members of today's volunteer 
military.
  Today these three young men ask that their hometown be afforded the 
same voting representation that their service will help bring to Iraq. 
They do not expect to have the same voting representation tomorrow that 
they will see in Iraq on January 30th. However, the people of the 
nation's capital could get a vote as the 109th Congress convenes on 
January 4th for its new session. By rule of the House, the Congress 
could put the District on the path to full voting rights.
  During the 103rd Congress, the District of Columbia had a vote on 
most House business by rule of the House and by vote of the House, as 
affirmed by the federal courts. With the change of controlling parties 
in the 104th Congress, this vote was withdrawn. Our country and most 
democracies would find the withdrawal of voting rights intolerable 
anywhere in the world. Eliminating a vote fairly won is also 
unacceptable here. As we are reminded time and again, all countries 
must meet the same standard--Iraq, Afghanistan and the United States, 
as well.
  Specialists Gray, Kosh, and Lewis and their families are tax paying 
citizens of the United States and of the capital of our nation, but 
they have given more than most of us. They are soldiers who have gone 
to war for our country. I ask the House to honor their service and to 
heed their call for voting representation in this House. I also ask 
unanimous consent to place in the record their own words petitioning 
their government for voting representation.

                          ____________________