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Testimony of John Forster
Activities Coordinator, Committee for the Capital City
Before the District of Columbia City Council
Subcommittee on Public Interest, on Proposed DC City Council Resolution PR 15-855

May 19, 2004

Sense of the Council in Support of Voting Rights Advancement in the Congress of the United States Resolution of 2004

Thank you Mr. Chairman for your leadership in calling for this important hearing. On behalf of the Board of Directors and membership of the Committee for the Capital City, I speak in support of the resolution before this Committee today. We applaud the DC Council for their action in support of DC voting rights.

It is important for the City Council to encourage Congress to support any incremental step that leads us further along the path of full democracy and equal rights for the people of the District of Columbia. DC residents are virtually unanimous in their support for voting representation in the House and Senate and for home rule.

We believe that the resolution as currently drafted is flexible enough to support full voting rights in the House without precluding the possibility of congressional legislation that may go further.

The Committee for the Capital City is the leading citizen organization supporting both H.R. 3907 The District of Columbia Voting Rights Restoration Act of 2004 by Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), and H.R. 381, The District of Columbia Maryland Reunion Act by Ralph Regula (R-OH). These legislative solutions provide full voting rights in both the House and Senate in a politically realistic manner and are designed to be constitutional.

We are pleased that Congress is now on the verge of addressing the issue of DC voting rights. It is now time to talk about the solutions not the problem.

Attached to our testimony is an op-ed piece that was printed in todays Northwest Current as well as the text of HR 3709.