District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act of 2007
I was elected in 1991; and one of my colleagues, who was elected at the same time, Ms. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, she has been in this battle ever since she has been here trying to educate this House and the Members of this Congress about the disenfranchisement of the people of the District of Columbia, and she has done a magnificent job of doing that.
That brings us to the point that we are today. We have worked out an agreement. We have bipartisan support. We have a piece of legislation that makes good sense. It will give representation to the people who live and work in this District, people who pay taxes.
When I rode in this morning, I rode in a taxicab with an elderly woman who has been driving a cab for 28 years. I struck up a conversation with her, and she told me that she had two sons in Iraq. I could not tell her about what we were doing on the floor today. I did not want to engage her in that conversation because I was too ashamed to even talk about the fact that she did not have representation, she did not have a voting representative because this body had not decided to use its power to give the vote to the people of the District of Columbia. But I am proud to stand here today because I think something wonderful is about to happen.
No matter the distortions about the Constitution, no matter the misunderstanding that I am hearing from the opposite side of the aisle, we are about to embark on something that is historical, that is constitutional, and is the right thing to do. And I am so pleased and proud to be a part of it as I stand here, looking in the eyes of my friend, Eleanor Holmes Norton, where I will be casting my vote with her today to give voting rights to the people of this District.
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