Jack Kemp Gives Strong Endorsement for Promising, New DC Voting Rights Bill

For more information contact: James Jones, Communications Director
202.462.6000 x12 office / 202.557.4864 mobile / jjones@dcvote.org

May 15, 2006

For more information contact: Bona Park, Office of The Honorable Jack Kemp
Phone: (202) 452-6224 / Mobile: (202) 270-5252 / bpark@kemppartners.com

In a major step forward in the DC voting rights movement, Representative Tom Davis (R-VA) and Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced on May 11, 2006 the introduction of the DC Fair and Equal House Voting Rights Act of 2006. The new legislation is the product of a bipartisan consensus bill that would give the District of Columbia a voting representative in the House for the first time ever.

The following statement released by former Congressman and former Vice Presidential Candidate Jack Kemp may be quoted in part or in full:

"I commend my colleagues and friends in the House of Representatives for setting aside partisan politics, rolling up their sleeves, and coming to a consensus that corrects an injustice for the citizens of the District of Columbia, indeed our nation.

"I have often said that the DC voting rights struggle is one of the last great civil rights challenges facing our nation. Representative Tom Davis and Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton have reached across the aisle to craft a bill that finally gives the voting franchise to the half a million Americans who are denied it, and I lend my voice in strong support in effort to move the legislation quickly through the Congress and to the desk of the President for signing.

"The DC Fair and Equal House Voting Rights Act of 2006 is the best chance the citizens of Washington, DC, have had in centuries to experience a better representative democracy. DC residents are on the threshold of having a vote in Congress, a right common and sacred to all Americans but denied to Americans living in the nation's capital. It is a time for action.

"I am pleased by the introduction of the DC Fair and Equal House Voting Rights Act and am encouraged by its excellent chance of becoming a law during this Congress. I will do all I can, working together with DC Vote and its coalition partners, to drive this bill forward and encourage all Americans to join the movement that will be the greatest civil rights victory so far this 21st century."

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