[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 122 (Thursday, July 2, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S4171]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                     District of Columbia Statehood

  Mr. President, we have serious disagreements here in Congress. We 
trade in passionate words, but words sometimes get a little too hot 
under the collar. There are times when we need to take a step back and 
really think about what we are saying.
  Yesterday, speaking in opposition to DC Statehood, the junior Senator 
from Montana said lawmakers should ``go out to where the real people 
are across the country and ask them what they think.''
  ``Go out to where the real people are.''
  Over 700,000 people live and work in the District of Columbia, 46 
percent of them are Black. They hold jobs just like everyone else. They 
teach, deliver groceries, care for our sick, and work in our 
restaurants and churches. Many of them work here in the Capitol, 
providing essential services to some Senators who, obviously, don't 
consider them ``real people.''
  My friends on the other side of the aisle would have you believe that 
every member of this city is a lobbyist or defense contractor or a 
reporter. Not only is that comically false, but I don't remember the 
part of the Constitution where it says your rights as American citizens 
only apply if Republican Senators approve of your line of work.
  I have noticed that it has become fashionable for elements of the 
political right to accuse Democrats of ignoring ``real Americans.'' It 
seems that the political right has a clear idea of which Americans are 
real and which Americans are not.
  When Republican Senators are outright dismissing the personhood of 
thousands of American citizens--most of whom are Black--it is time for 
the political right to look in the mirror.
  DC residents fulfill all the obligations of citizenship. They pay 
Federal taxes. They can be summoned for jury duty. They have served in 
every war since the Revolutionary War. But they are denied real 
representation in Congress.
  We can have a real conversation about Statehood without denigrating 
or dehumanizing these citizens, but the far right is so afraid of 
losing political power and so unwilling to appeal to anyone who doesn't 
already agree with them that their strategy has become: restrict voting 
rights and deny equal representation in Congress to hundreds of 
thousands of Americans.
  Self-governance and equal representation aren't Democratic issues or 
Republican issues. Voting rights shouldn't be a Democratic issue or a 
Republican issue. These are issues of fairness, of equality. It is not 
about right or left. It is about right and wrong.