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Statehood Green Party Challenges Congress to Support Statehood for D.C.THE D.C. STATEHOOD GREEN PARTY September 17 Contact: Statehood Green Party submit testimony on the Norton-Davis bill for a single D.C. voting seat in the House of Representatives (H.R. 5388), challenging Congress to support D.C. statehood instead WASHINGTON, DC -- The D.C. Statehood Green Party submitted testimony today to the Judiciary Committee on the 'D.C. Fair and Equal House Voting Rights Act' (H.R. 5388), sponsored by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) and Rep. Tom Davis (D-Va.), which would grant the District of Columbia a single voting seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Statehood Green Party has sharply criticized H.R. 5388, calling it a largely symbolic measure that will not afford genuine democracy to the people of the District of Columbia. Instead, Statehood Greens have urged Congress to enact legislation that would grant D.C. residents self-determination and self-government, with the option of becoming a state. A Judiciary Committee hearing on H.R. 5388 took place this afternoon in the Rayburn House Office Building at 2 p.m. At noon today, several Statehood Green candidates and members rallied outside the Rayburn Building and unfurled a giant hemp flag calling for D.C. statehood. The testimony follows below. For a list of 2006 Statehood Green candidates, visit <http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org/election2006>. ----------------- TESTIMONY From the DC Statehood Green Party However, we encourage the Judiciary Committee and Congress to reconsider "The D.C. Fair and Equal House Voting Rights Act" (H.R. 5388), which would grant the District a single voting seat in the House of Representatives. Instead, we urge Congress to pass legislation making it possible for the people of the District of Columbia to choose statehood. We offer ten reasons why Congress should either replace H.R. 5388 with a bill allowing D.C. statehood, or should follow passage of H.R. 5388 quickly with such a bill that grants D.C. the option of real democracy. \ Democracy for D.C., with its African American majority population, remains one of the last major legal civil rights hurdles. The DC Statehood Green Party itself is the result of a merger in 1999 between the DC Green Party and the DC Statehood Party, which was founded in 1970 as part of the Civil Rights Movement and whose banner demand has been statehood for the District. We urge Congress members and the public to join us as we work for this goal. Ten reasons to support statehood instead of a single voting seat in the House: (1) H.R. 5388, by giving voting rights to a single D.C. Representative without conferring other democratic rights on the people of D.C., grants full constitutional rights to a single District resident. We ask the Judiciary Committee to imagine if the outcome of the Montgomery bus boycott were that Dr. Martin Luther King alone was given the right to sit in front of the bus, while all other black citizens of Montgomery still had to sit in the back. This is comparable to what H.R. 5388 would enact. (2) H.R. 5388, which gives D.C. a single voting seat in the House, still leaves D.C. residents with less congressional representation than all other Americans, who get to elect two Senators as well as a Representative. Under statehood, D.C. will gain two Senators and a Representative. In effect, H.R. 5388 makes D.C. residents "one-third citizens." (3) Representation in a national legislature is not democracy. Throughout history, colonies have enjoyed voting seats in the legislatures of nations that conquered them, even while they suffered exploitation and suppression. Our own Founding Fathers and Mothers fought for democracy and independence, not 'voting rights.' Patrick Henry never said 'Give me a seat in Parliament or give me death.' The only real democracy is political self-determination and self-governance for the people of D.C. (4) The voting seat afforded by the H.R. 5388 will not block Congress from imposing its will and veto power on D.C. In 1998, Congress overturned a ballot measure that passed with a 69% majority in D.C. (Initiative 59 for medical marijuana). Congress has also forced D.C. to adopt 'zero tolerance' laws; ordered Mayor Williams (through the appointed Financial Control Board) to dismantle D.C. General Hospital, the District's only full-service public health facility, imposed a charter school system; and outlawed needle exchange to prevent HIV transmission. Members of Congress who represent suburban districts in Virginia and Maryland have exploited D.C. for the benefit of their constituents, prohibiting D.C. from taxing commuters (every other city in the U.S. relies on commuter taxes) and pushing for a new convention center in 1999 to be paid for by a D.C. business surtax for the profit of suburban businesses. Congress members have sought to overturn local gun control laws, enact the death penalty, impose a school voucher program, and prohibit benefits for same-sex couples. Congress's imposition of laws, policies, and finances on the District is an injustice and an affront to the rights of D.C. citizens. Only full self-government -- statehood -- will stop Congress from forcing unwanted laws, policies, and budgets on D.C. and overturning the decisions of District voters and City Council. H.R. 5388 does nearly nothing to increase the political power of D.C. citizens, because the new voting seat would be only one of 437, according to provisions of the bill that would also grant Utah a new seat. (5) The lack of statehood has made D.C. residents second-class U.S. citizens, denying them rights that all other U.S. citizens enjoy -- contrary to the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which ensures equal protection under the law. Ever since thousands of African Americans moved to D.C. in the 1950s to take federal jobs but had no control over local laws, one of the nicknames of the District has been 'The Last Plantation.' H.R. 5388 bill will not change the District's colonial status. We remind the Judiciary Committee that President Bush is sending young men and women from D.C. to face injury and death fighting for the democratic rights of Iraqis -- rights they don't enjoy at home. (6) If H.R. 5388 passes, Congress will still hold the power to revoke D.C.'s lone voting seat and repeal D.C.'s limited democratic powers. Under statehood, Congress would not have the power to revoke D.C. democracy. Except for the Southern states after they rebelled in the Civil War, Congress has never rescinded any state's right to govern itself. (7) H.R. 5388 will set back the movement for full constitutional rights for District residents for decades, because Congress will consider democracy for D.C. a fait accompli. (8) Since the decisions of D.C. elected officials are all subject to Congressional approval and veto power, and the elected Representative would be the District's sole voting representative in Congress, the bill will give this representative sole and discretionary 'gatekeeper' power over all D.C. laws, policies, and budgets -- contrary to the principle of self-determination, which is the basis of democracy. Under H.R. 5388, leverage over all D.C. political agenda will be invested in a one individual -- D.C.'s lone voting representative in Congress. This is the exact opposite of democracy. (9) If the bill passes and is challenged in a law suit, it's very possible that the Supreme Court will overturn it, since the U.S. Constitution (Article I, Section 2) grants voting representation in Congress solely to states. A decision by the U.S. District Court for D.C. in 2000 (Daley v. Alexander) upheld this restriction: "We conclude from our analysis of the text that the Constitution does not contemplate that the District may serve as a state for purposes of the apportionment of congressional representatives." The ruling went unchallenged by the Supreme Court. The Court will not overturn an Act of Congress that allows D.C. to become a state. (10) If a court overturns the bill and requires a constitutional amendment, then, procedurally, full democracy will be easier to achieve than mere voting rights in Congress, since a vote for statehood would not require the 2/3 majority necessary to pass a constitutional amendment. In 1846, an Act of Congress removed Alexandria and parts of Arlington from the District and gave it to the state of Virginia. This precedent proves that Congress, through legislation requiring a simple majority, can change the District's borders and reduce the constitutionally mandated federal enclave to include only the federal properties (White House, Capitol, Mall, etc.), thus freeing the rest of D.C. to choose statehood by a plebiscite vote. For more information about the movement for D.C. statehood and the history of this movement, we encourage you to visit the following web sites: The DC Statehood Green Party Stand Up! for Democracy in D.C. Coalition The D.C. Statehood Papers: Writings on D.C. Statehood & self-government by Sam Smith Twenty D.C. Citizens Lawsuit: The case for full democracy and equality
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