During a House Oversight Committee hearing before the recess, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) spoke out against proposed legislation regarding voting in Washington D.C.
00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I strongly oppose this undemocratic, paternalistic bill.
00:05I ask unanimous consent to submit into the record a letter from the Council of the District of Columbia opposing this bill.
00:12Without objection, so ordered.
00:14Last Congress, Republicans introduced 14 bills or amendments to prohibit non-citizens from voting in D.C.
00:22or to repeal, nullify, or prohibit the carrying out of D.C.'s law that permits non-citizens to vote.
00:34Yet Republicans refuse to make the only election law change D.C. has asked Congress to make,
00:42which is the right to hold elections for voting members of the House and Senate.
00:50I want to discuss democracy or lack thereof in D.C.
00:56D.C. has no voting representation in Congress, and Congress has the ultimate say on local matters.
01:05While Congress has the authority to legislate on local D.C. matters, it is not required to do so.
01:13In Federalist 43, James Madison said of D.C. residents, a quote,
01:22a municipal legislature for local purposes derived from their own suffrages will, of course, be allowed them, close quote.
01:31The Supreme Court held in 1953 that, quote,
01:38there is no constitutional barrier to the delegation by Congress to the District of Columbia of full legislative power, end quote.
01:51D.C.'s local legislature has three as 13 members.
01:59If D.C. residents do not like how the members vote, residents can vote them out or pass a ballot measure.
02:08That is called democracy.
02:10Congress has 533 voting members.
02:15None are elected by D.C. residents.
02:19If D.C. residents do not like how members vote on local matters, residents cannot vote them out.
02:27That is the antithesis of democracy.
02:31The substance of H.R. of H.R. 884 is irrelevant, since there is never justification for Congress to legislate on local D.C. matters.
02:50However, I will briefly discuss it.
02:52While D.C.'s local Voting Rights Amendment Act allows non-citizens to vote only in local D.C. elections,
03:01non-citizen voting at every level of government has been part of the history of the United States since its founding.
03:12Forty states have allowed non-citizens to vote.
03:17Nearly 20 cities today allow non-citizens to vote in local elections,
03:24and Congress only first prohibited non-citizens from voting in federal elections 29 years ago.
03:33I will close with a plea to Republicans,
03:37pass the bipartisan D.C. Local Funds Act
03:40to reverse the $1 billion cut in the continuing resolution made to the local D.C. budget.
03:50That bill has held back at the desk of the House since the Senate passed it nine weeks ago, and I yield back.
03:59General, I yield back.
04:00Any other members seek recognition?
04:02Chair recognizes.
04:03Ranking Member Lynch.
04:05Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
04:06Before I discuss H.R. 84, I must note that today marks nine weeks since the Senate passed the bipartisan District of Columbia Local Funds Act of 2025,
04:17which would undo the $1 billion cut to the D.C. local budget in the House Republican-drafted fiscal year 2025 full-year continuing resolution.
04:27The Republican-led Senate understood immediately the cuts, harms,
04:31and passed the D.C. Local Funds Act within hours of its introduction by Republican Senator Susan Collins,
04:38the chair of the Committee on Appropriations in the Senate.
04:42On March 28th, President Trump called on the House to pass the D.C. Local Funds Act immediately,
04:47yet Speaker Johnson said last week that the House has been too busy to act on it,
04:53though the House found time two weeks ago to rename the Gulf of Mexico.
04:57The D.C. local budget consists entirely of revenue raised by D.C.
05:03It's their local tax, which is why the Congressional Budget Office concluded the D.C. Local Funds Act would have,
05:10quote, no effect on the federal budget, close quote.
05:14For the last two decades, Congress allowed D.C. to spend under its current local budget for the duration of every continuing resolution.
05:22However, the fiscal year 2025 full-year CR forced D.C. to revert to its fiscal year 2024 local budget.
05:32Compounding the harm, D.C. will have to implement the cut with only four months remaining in the fiscal year.
05:38D.C. may have to lay off or furlough employees, close government facilities, and reduce critical services.
05:44I call on Speaker Johnson to bring the D.C. Local Funds Act to the floor immediately and to end this sabotage.
05:52I will turn to H.R. 884.
05:56I oppose the bill because D.C. should be free to govern its own local affairs.
06:00D.C.'s local residents' voting rights amendment act of 2022 allows non-citizens to vote only in local elections,
06:07namely for mayor, members of the City Council, State Board of Education, Attorney General, Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, and ballot measures.
06:17I thought Republicans believed in local control of local affairs.
06:22Regardless of one's view on the merits of non-citizen voting, we must acknowledge that D.C. is not the first or only jurisdiction to permit it.
06:30At various points in American history, Congress and 40 states have allowed non-citizens to vote in local, state, territorial, and federal elections.
06:39In fact, every state except one represented by Republicans on this committee has allowed non-citizens to vote,
06:47including the home state of the chairman and the sponsor of H.R. 884.
06:52Today, approximately 20 municipalities permit non-citizens to vote in local, local elections.
06:58This committee is considering the wrong legislation relating to D.C. elections.
07:03Instead, as the representative, as the delegate for D.C. has pointed out,
07:09it should be considering H.R. 51, the D.C. statehood bill,
07:13which would give more than 700,000 D.C. residents voting representation in Congress and full home rule.
07:21With that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
07:23Tim Yieldsback, any other members seek recognition?
07:26Seeing none.
07:27The question is now on the amendment in the nature of a substitute.
07:30All those in favor, signify by saying aye.
07:32Aye.
07:33All those opposed, signify by saying no.
07:35No.
07:36In the opinion of the chair, the no's have it.
07:38The amendment is agreed to.
07:39The question is now on favor of reporting H.R. 884 as amended.
07:42All those in favor, signify by saying aye.
07:44Aye.
07:45All those opposed, signify by saying no.
07:47No.
07:48In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it.
07:49And the bill is ordered favorably reported as amended.
07:52A vote has been requested, as previously announced.
07:55Further proceedings on the question will be postponed.
07:59Our next item for consideration is H.R. 2096, the Protecting Our Nation's Capital Emergency Act of 2025.
08:06The clerk, please designate the bill.
08:08H.R. 2096, the Protecting Our Nation's Capital Emergency Act of 2025, a bill to restore the right to negotiate matters pertaining to the discipline of law enforcement officers of the district.
