[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 44 (Wednesday, March 30, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E561-E562]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        COMMEMORATING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 23RD AMENDMENT

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                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 30, 2011

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to commemorate the 50th 
anniversary of the ratification of the 23rd Amendment to the United 
States Constitution, which granted the citizens of the District of 
Columbia the right to vote for President and Vice President. This 
victory fifty years ago was one of the early victories in the long and 
continuing struggle of District of Columbia residents for equal rights 
as American citizens. The 23rd Amendment provided the District of 
Columbia with three electors for President and Vice President, allowing 
D.C. residents to vote for the nation's highest offices for the first 
time since the city was created as the nation's capital.
  Only two Members of Congress, Representative John Dingell and Senator 
Daniel Inouye, remain in office from the period of introduction and 
ratification of the 23rd Amendment, when both were members of the House 
of Representatives. I was away at college then, but it was clear that 
an important catalyst for the amendment was the birth of the civil 
rights movement with the Birmingham bus boycott. The civil rights 
movement was key in moving Congress to afford the presidential and vice 
presidential votes to the citizens of the nation's capital, which had 
become a majority African American city at that time.
  The original joint resolution, H.J. Res. 757, was reported favorably 
by the House Committee on the Judiciary on June 9, 1960. The 
accompanying report made clear that the

[[Page E562]]

amendment ``would not make the District of Columbia a state'' and did 
not grant ``home-rule'' to the District. Home rule, a milestone 
allowing for democratic self-government, did not come until 1973. 
Originally paired with a number of unrelated amendments in the Senate, 
what became the 23rd Amendment passed the House by voice vote on June 
14, 1960 and the Senate agreed to the bill two days later. Fifty years 
ago today, March 29, 1961, Ohio became the 38th state to ratify the 
amendment, and it was officially declared to have been ratified as the 
23rd Amendment five days later.
  Unfortunately, the District of Columbia today remains the only 
capital in a democratic nation where citizens are denied a vote in the 
nation's representative body of government. Today, we can only hope 
that the decision of Congress to support the presidential and vice 
presidential votes for D.C. citizens will lead the way to votes in the 
Congress of the United States itself.

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