[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 130 (Friday, October 7, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2073]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




INTRODUCTION OF LEGISLATION WITH GOVERNMENT REFORM TO GIVE DC CITIZENS 
                        A PLACE IN STATUARY HALL

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                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 7, 2005

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that Government Reform 
Committee Chair Tom Davis (R-VA) and House Administration Committee 
Ranking Member Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-CA) are introducing a bill 
with me today to permit two statues honoring citizens of the District 
of Columbia in Statuary Hall of the Capitol, just as statues honoring 
citizens of States are placed in the historic hall. This legislation 
would allow the city to offer two statues to the Congress on behalf of 
DC residents. As I introduce this bill, as we have just honored the 
citizens of New Mexico, I ask the committee to remember that with the 
placement of their second statute, a bill I was pleased to support, I 
seek equal recognition for the citizens of the District of Columbia.
  The District of Columbia was born with the Nation itself. The city 
has more than two centuries of its very own rich and uniquely American 
history. It goes without saying that the almost 650,000 American 
citizens who live in the Nation's Capital deserve the honor of having 
two of its history makers represented in the halls of the Nation's 
Capital just as citizens who live in the 50 States have long enjoyed.
  Our bill would allow the Mayor and the City Council to devise the 
method for determining the identity of the honorees, who must be 
deceased. Mayor Anthony Williams has already agreed to find funds in 
the District's budget for these statues upon the passage of this 
legislation.
  Every time we allow the District to be excluded from its place among 
the 50 States, we undermine the Nation's efforts to spread full 
democracy around the world. While DC residents have not yet obtained 
the same political equality and voting rights as the citizens of the 
States, they have all the responsibilities of the States, including 
paying all Federal taxes and serving in all wars. Today, when our 
residents are serving in Iraq, the least we should do is to give this 
city its rightful and equal place in the Capitol. Among our residents 
now serving their country, the District lost 44-year-old Lt. Col. Paul 
W. Kimbrough, an African American engineer who was supporting Operation 
Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. I attended the funeral of 21-year-old 
Specialist Darryl Dent of the DC National Guard who was killed in Iraq. 
There are more than 100 soldiers still serving in Iraq from Specialist 
Dent's 547th Transportation Company.
  This bill offers District residents the opportunity to enjoy the same 
pride that all other citizens experience when they come to their 
Capital--the opportunity to view memorials that commemorate the efforts 
of deceased local residents who have made significant contributions to 
American history.

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