Prohibiting Voting By Noncitizens in District of Columbia Elections

Floor Speech

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Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I strongly oppose this undemocratic, paternalistic bill.

This Congress, Republicans have introduced 22 bills to overturn the District of Columbia's election laws, yet Republicans have refused to make the one and only change to D.C. election laws that D.C. residents have requested, which is to be given voting representation in the House and Senate.

Madam Speaker, I include in the Record a letter from the D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson and D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb opposing H.R. 192. May 22, 2024. Hon. Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House, House of Representatives, Washington, DC. Hon. Hakeem Jeffries, Minority Leader, House of Representatives, Washington, DC.

Dear Speaker Johnson and Leader Jeffries: We write today as two of the District's top elected local officials to express our opposition to H.R. 192, which will overturn the Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2022 (Act). At its core, H.R. 192 is undemocratic. The District of Columbia should be allowed to govern itself without interference from Congress. District residents pay more federal taxes per capita than any state, serve in the military, and contribute to the national welfare just the same as people everywhere else. Yet, over the past two years, our residents have repeatedly suffered the indignity of having politicians elected elsewhere--politicians who aren't accountable to District residents attempt to usurp the authority of our elected officials.

Reasonable people can disagree about the merits of the Act. But the District's democratically elected Council voted on it and approved it. Regardless of our own views on the Act, we stand united in our belief that Washingtonians should enjoy the same right to self-determination and self-governance as people in every other state. That includes the right to determine who should participate in purely local--not federal--elections. H.R. 192 would deny District residents this fundamental right.

H.R. 192 is ill-conceived for another reason: if passed, it could sow chaos and confusion in the District's elections this year. In fact, early and mail-in voting is already underway for the District's primary election.

Congress already attempted to overturn the Act, introducing no fewer than four resolutions to repudiate the will of District voters. Each time, the resolutions have failed. We urge Congress to once against rebuff this undemocratic attack on District residents, affirm our right to self-governance, and reject H.R. 192. Sincerely, Brian L. Schwalb,

Attorney General for the District of Columbia. Phil Mendelson,

Chairman, Council of the District of Columbia.

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Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, before I discuss the substance of H.R. 192, I will discuss democracy and the lack of it in D.C. The nearly 700,000 District residents have no voting representation in Congress, and Congress has the ultimate say, even on local D.C. matters.

My Republican colleagues are correct that Congress has the constitutional authority to legislate on local D.C. matters, but the majority is wrong that Congress has a constitutional duty to do so. Instead, legislating on local D.C. matters is a choice.

In Federalist No. 43, James Madison said of the residents of the future D.C.: ``As a municipal legislature for local purposes, derived from their own suffrages, will of course be allowed them. . . . ''

The Supreme Court held in 1953 that: `` . . . there is no constitutional barrier to the delegation by Congress to the District of Columbia of full legislative power.''

D.C.'s local legislature, the Council, has 13 members. The members are elected by D.C. residents. If D.C. residents do not like how the members vote, they can vote them out of office. That is called democracy.

Congress has 535 Members. The Members are elected by residents of their States. None are elected by D.C. residents. If D.C. residents do not like how the Members vote on local D.C. matters, they cannot vote them out of office. That is the antithesis of democracy.

The merits of H.R. 192 should be irrelevant since there is never justification for Congress legislating on local D.C. matters. However, I will discuss H.R. 192.

D.C.'s Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2022, allows D.C. residents who are noncitizens to vote only in local D.C. elections.

D.C.'s law is not unique. More than a dozen cities today allow noncitizens to vote in local elections. While the Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act applies only to local D.C. elections, there is a long history in the United States, including before its founding, of allowing noncitizens to vote in State, local, territorial, and Federal elections. At various points, 40 States have allowed noncitizens to vote, including Texas, the home of the sponsor of H.R. 192.

Congress only first prohibited noncitizens from voting in Federal elections in 1996. The House passed the disapproval resolution on the Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act in February 2023. The Senate did not vote on the disapproval resolution, and the Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act became law in March 2023.

Voting, including by noncitizens, started earlier this month in D.C. primary elections. Why did Republicans wait to bring H.R. 192 to the floor until voting had already started? The majority did so to disrupt the elections.

The Revolutionary War was fought to give consent to the governed and to end taxation without representation. Yet D.C. residents cannot consent to any action taken by Congress, and they pay full Federal taxes while being denied voting representation in Congress. Indeed, D.C. pays more Federal taxes per capita than any State and more total Federal taxes than 20 States.

If House Republicans cared about elections or D.C. residents, Republicans would bring to the floor the D.C. statehood bill, H.R. 51, the Washington, D.C. Admission Act.

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Ms. NORTON. The act would give D.C. residents voting representation in Congress and full local self-government. Congress has the constitutional authority to admit the State of Washington, D.C. It simply lacks the will. D.C. residents, a majority of whom are Black and Brown, are worthy and capable of self-government.

Madam Speaker, I urge Members to vote ``no'' on H.R. 192.

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