DC Vote Responds to President Biden’s Statement of Administration Policy Promising to Veto DC Policing Accountability Disapproval Resolution

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
April 17th, 2023

PRESS CONTACT:
Patrice Snow
[email protected]

Washington, DC –  This morning, President Biden announced his intention to veto H.J. Res. 42, the disapproval resolution overturning police accountability legislation lawfully passed by local government elected by the people of DC. DC Vote’s communications director Patrice Snow released the following statement in response:

“We applaud President Biden’s promise to veto Georgia Rep. Andrew ‘January 6th was just a tourist visit’ Clyde’s latest assault on the autonomy of the people of Washington, DC. This latest disapproval resolution was yet another way to undermine DC’s sovereignty and thwart the ever-growing DC Statehood movement. But because of President Biden’s Statement of Administration Policy published earlier this morning, we are closer to full freedom than ever before. The 700,000 tax paying residents of the District deserve the freedom to govern ourselves and the freedom to determine our own destiny without outside interference by biased elected officials who have never even lived in DC.”

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“DC Vote, which advocates D.C. autonomy and statehood, cheered Biden’s intention to veto the bill should it come to that. ‘Instead of Congress focusing on acting as overlords of the District of Columbia, they should focus on issues their constituents back home care about,’ said Patrice Snow, the organization’s communications director.”

Click here to read The Washington Post piece.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 30th, 2023

PRESS CONTACT:
Patrice Snow
[email protected]

Washington, DC –  Reuters just exclusively reported President Biden would veto the Republican-backed bill to overturn police reform in Washington, DC if it passes in the full Congress. In light of this positive development, DC Vote’s communications director Patrice Snow released the following statement:

“We at DC Vote and in the DC Statehood movement fully support President Biden’s promise to veto legislation that would overturn lawfully-passed legislation by the DC Council. This disapproval resolution doesn’t respect DC’s autonomy or home rule rights. Instead of Congress focusing on acting as overlords of the District of Columbia, they should focus on issues their constituents back home care about.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 29th, 2023

PRESS CONTACT:
Patrice Snow
[email protected]

Washington, DC – Rep. James Comer of Kentucky and the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability just wrapped up their hearing on so-called “DC Governance” and will shortly vote on the disapproval resolution to overturn police reform for the District. In light of these two developments, DC Vote’s communications director Patrice Snow released the following statement:

“Earlier today during a House Oversight Committee hearing, some members of Congress tried to paint a portrait of Washington, DC as a third-world, backward, crime-ridden place that no one wants to visit or live in. Nothing could be further from the truth. The District of Columbia is a thriving metropolis filled with a diverse population who contribute so much to the greater good.”

Snow continued, “Representatives from random states like Georgia and Arizona should not be allowed to determine the future of the District of Columbia thru another disapproval resolution to overturn lawful legislation passed by the DC Council. Our autonomy is not only democratically-sound but it’s vital in order to solve the problems that those who keep us oppressed complain about. Perhaps Reps. Nancy Mace and Andrew Clyde should sweep in front of their own front porches before they worry about ruling over the people of DC like a monarch over colonists. DC Statehood is the only solution to solve our problem as second-class citizens.”

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“Kelsye Adams walked through the Cannon House Office Building hallways and noticed the plaques for representatives from across the country. Texas. New Hampshire. Wisconsin.

Unlike her, the D.C. resident thought, all of their constituents had a voice in Congress.”

Read the entire Washington Post piece here.

“Statehood supporters found Biden’s comments and Democrats’ votes inconsistent with their stated support for home rule. ‘I think President Biden’s words about supporting statehood and home rule feel emptier and emptier by the day,’ said Bo Shuff, executive director of D.C. Vote.”

Read the entire Washington Post piece here.

“Adams also hopes that DC Vote’s SXSW appearance propels more non-locals to join the statehood push. ‘We’re not asking for statehood anymore; we’re demanding it,’ Adams says.”

Read the entire Washingtonian piece here.

“Bo Shuff finally got full voting rights — something he’s spent years fighting for as a D.C. statehood advocate. And he’s a little chagrined about it. Because the country in which he will finally have a full say is Austria. Yes. It’s easier for a 50-year-old, opinionated, gay, cake baking, glass blowing political consultant, advocate and Washington wonk to get the right to vote in elections across Atlantic Ocean, in Austria, than it is in the country where he was born, in the place he’s lived most of his life.”

Read the entire Washington Post piece here.

Read the entire Billboard piece here.


“Still, Snow said there was a silver lining in Wednesday’s defeat at the hands of Congress: that D.C. statehood advocates ‘will be able to educate folks outside the District that 700,000 residents of D.C. don’t have a voting representative in Congress.'”

Read the entire HuffPost piece here.

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