[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 18]
[Senate]
[Pages 24599-24600]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            DC VOTING RIGHTS

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, a little later this morning, we are going 
to face an important debate on the DC House Voting Rights Act. It is 
one that I support. It is a cause that I have supported for a long 
time. It is unimaginable that nearly 600,000 Americans have no voice 
and no vote in Congress today. But it is a fact. It reflects decisions 
made long ago about whether the District of Columbia and its residents 
would be represented in Congress. There is good reason why they should 
be.
  I was saddened to learn this morning that President Bush has 
threatened to veto this bill. He will ask men and women in the District 
of Columbia to fight and risk their lives so the people of Iraq and 
Afghanistan have a right to vote, but he has threatened to veto the 
bill which gives those same soldiers the right to vote for 
congressional representation of their own. That is unacceptable.
  The President says he has constitutional concerns. He and other 
opponents of the DC House Voting Rights Act point to language in the 
Constitution that says that the House of Representatives will be 
composed of members chosen by ``the people of the several states.'' 
They argue that the District of Columbia is a district, not a State.
  It is a weak argument at best. Our Federal judiciary has long treated 
the District of Columbia as a ``State'' for many purposes. For example, 
the 16th amendment of the Constitution grants Congress the power to tax 
our incomes, ``without apportionment among the several states.'' The 
16th amendment has been interpreted to apply to DC residents; the 
Federal Government can and does require residents of Washington, DC, to 
pay Federal income taxes.
  DC residents are also required to serve on Federal juries and 
register for selective service. Why should the right to vote be any 
different?

[[Page 24600]]

  I think when we look at this basic purpose, the right to vote for 
congressional representation, the people who live in Washington, DC, 
deserve it.
  Do opponents of DC voting rights believe that residents of America's 
Capital City should bear the full responsibilities of citizens but do 
not deserve the full rights of citizens?
  It is not just Democrats who believe the DC voting bill is 
constitutional. Several prominent Republicans, including Kenneth Starr, 
Jack Kemp, and Viet Dinh, principal author of the PATRIOT Act, have 
testified that the bill meets constitutional muster.
  Yesterday, September 17, marked the 220th anniversary of the signing 
of the U.S. Constitution. This is a time to celebrate the genius of the 
Framers who had the vision and insight--in the year 1789--to lay the 
foundation for what has become the world's oldest democracy.
  The Constitution our Framers gave us was a brilliant document--but 
not a flawless one. It denied full participation in our democracy to 
the people of Washington.
  Over the past 2 centuries, we have refined the Constitution to expand 
the right to vote to all Americans. We have expanded freedom. Some 
expansions of voting rights have come as a result of constitutional 
amendment. In other cases, Congress has expanded the right to vote by 
statute.
  Just last year, this Congress reauthorized the Voting Rights Act, 
which another, courageous Congress first passed in 1965. The Voting 
Rights Act is often considered the most important civil rights law ever 
passed by Congress. It removed poll taxes and dismantled Jim Crow.
  A few weeks ago, on September 5, the Senate Judiciary Committee--on 
which I serve--held a hearing to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 
Civil Rights Act of 1957. One of the witnesses at that hearing was a 
hero of mine and a giant of our civil rights movement: Representative 
John Lewis of Georgia.
  Representative Lewis testified about discrimination against African 
Americans when he was growing up in Alabama. He talked about the 
inspiration he drew from meeting Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa 
Parks. He talked about how far we have come as a nation when it comes 
to the treatment of African Americans and persons of color. And he 
talked about the progress we have made when it comes to voting rights.
  John Lewis was nearly beaten to death on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 
Selma, AL, marching for voting rights in 1965. He put his life on the 
line for the right to vote. So I think we should take special note of 
what John Lewis had to say when he was asked at the Judiciary Committee 
hearing about the bill that would create voting rights for the 
residents right here in Washington, DC.
  John Lewis said the following:

       [W]e are going to say to the District of Columbia, where 
     people leave this district, leave this city, they go and 
     fight in our wars, and then they cannot participate in the 
     democratic process. That is wrong.

  The Senate can heed those words this week. The Senate can give the 
residents of Washington, DC, a voice in Congress.
  For two centuries, Washington, DC, residents have fought and died in 
this Nation's wars, often suffering among the highest casualty rates.
  Twenty-three Washington, DC, residents have been killed or wounded in 
Iraq and Afghanistan.
  Haven't the residents of this city earned the right to have their 
voices heard, and their vote count, in the House of Representatives? 
Haven't the people of Washington, DC, waited long enough?
  Washington, DC, is the only capital city in the world whose citizens 
do not have voting representation in their national legislature.
  For over 200 years, Washingtonians have been mere spectators to our 
great democracy.
  In the course of our Nation's history, we have many times expanded 
freedom and expanded voting rights to people whom our Founders, in 
their incomplete genius, left out.
  This week, we have an opportunity, and an obligation, to take another 
important and long overdue step forward in the historic struggle for 
voting rights by giving the residents of the District of Columbia a 
vote in the U.S. House of Representatives. Let us vote for the right to 
vote.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Tester). The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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