This time, Rep. Rodney Davis Comes For DC…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
August 15th, 2022

PRESS CONTACT:
Patrice Snow
[email protected]

Washington, DC – Representative Rodney Davis (R-Il.), the Ranking Member of the Committee on House Administration, recently joined the attack on DC’s sovereignty and Statehood movement by introducing the blatantly undemocratic yet slyly named American Confidence in Elections: District of Columbia Election Integrity and Voter Confidence Act. The bill would be the only time the Congress decided the methods of how to conduct local elections and would completely overrule local decision-making. 

In response to Rep. Davis’ bill attacking District resident’s basic voting rights, DC Vote’s communications director Patrice Snow released the following statement:  

“District of Columbia residents are already treated as second-class citizens without a voting member of Congress to represent their interests on Capitol Hill nor a sovereign governor and state legislature to pass public policy to respond to their needs. Now, Illinois Rep. Rodney Davis wants to join Reps. Kevin McCarthy (R-Ca.) and Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) to essentially fully repeal democracy in Washington, DC with this fraudulently named ‘American Confidence in Elections: District of Columbia Election Integrity and Voter Confidence Act,’” Snow said.

Snow continued, “The irony that Illinois Congressman Rodney Davis wants to, as a federal government authority, decide election procedures where District residents don’t even have full federal elections is almost more than one can bear. This bill, destined to die in the Congress, is just another in a long history of stunts. Rep. Davis has joined a history of legislators whose own inability to govern leads them to bully the people of DC to earn cheap political points. It would be comical were it not so sad.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
July 22nd, 2022

PRESS CONTACT:
Patrice Snow
[email protected]

Washington, DC – This morning, Axios reported Georgia Representative Andrew Clyde is positioning himself as Washington, DC’s top foe if his party were to win back power during the November midterm elections. Among Congressman Clyde’s crazy proposals, he wants to rescind the DC Home Rule Act, ban abortion without exceptions, implement permitless carry, and eliminate the mayor’s office. 

In response to Clyde’s unhinged proposals, DC Vote’s communications director Patrice Snow released the following statement:  

“Unlike Georgia Representative Andrew Clyde, who called the January 6th attack on the Capitol a ‘normal tourist visit,’ we here in Washington, DC know what actual tourism looks like and that includes taking care and meeting the needs of the District so visitors can enjoy everything DC has to offer. We have a mayor and a council that, despite meddling from Congress, has balanced budgets for more than two decades and carries a AAA bond rating. Additionally, the women and men who serve in DC’s Metropolitan Police Department answered the call during the January 6th insurrection to keep Members of Congress safe during the attack, including Congressman Clyde himself,” Snow said.

Snow continued, “Perhaps Congressman Andrew Clyde should shelve his anti-democracy plans for Washington, DC and concern himself more with Georgia’s 9th congressional district. Residents of Gainesville, Georgia and Dawsonville, Georgia deserve a representative who advocates for their needs and hopes and dreams in Congress rather than working on authoritarian and biased plans to take over the District of Columbia. And when the voters of Georgia’s 9th finally decide Rep. Clyde’s unhealthy fixation on the District of Columbia and our governance does nothing to help put food on their table or gas in the car and reject his leadership, he can always join former Rep. Jason Chaffetz as a Fox News contributor.”

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“There was a very famous line of then-President Obama telling then-Speaker of the House John Boehner, ‘I don’t like it John, but I’ll give you D.C. abortion,'” Shuff said. “That specifically is what is worrying people about where we are now.”

See Bo and the rest of the piece here.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
July 14th, 2022

PRESS CONTACT:
Patrice Snow
[email protected]

Washington, DC – Late last night on the House floor, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton’s amendment to give control of the DC National Guard to the District’s mayor, aligning itself with other state jurisdictions, passed in a bipartisan vote. Afterwards, DC Vote’s communications director Patrice Snow released the following statement: 

“We applaud the House of Representatives for voting and passing Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton’s amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act last night. Now it’s time for the Senate to do the same and pass the bipartisan amendment so that DC’s National Guard is treated the same as every other National Guard in the country with the sole authority staying with local control to best meet local needs.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
July 12th, 2022

PRESS CONTACT:
Patrice Snow
[email protected]

Washington, DC – “We at DC Vote would like to thank Delaware Senator Tom Carper for bringing important attention to the delays of confirming judges for the DC Superior Court in his opening remarks during the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee hearing earlier today. As one of our most recent Champions of Democracy, Senator Carper understands the plight of the 700,000 disenfranchised District residents face and one of the biggest is injustice simply caused by the delay of confirming judges to serve the people of the District of Columbia. He correctly pointed out how leaving open seats on DC’s courts because of the random whims of a Congress where District residents don’t even have a vote equates to justice delayed and justice denied. Quite simply – the judicial injustice Congress heaps on the District of Columbia is an undue burden that could be easily solved with DC Statehood now.”

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“If Congress gets hellbent on banning abortion in DC,” Bo Shuff says, “there’s very little people or officials in the District can do – beyond providing bus trips to Maryland.”

Read the rest of Politico’s piece here.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
June 30th, 2022

PRESS CONTACT:
Patrice Snow
[email protected]

Washington, DC – In response to President Biden affirming support for filibuster reform for voting rights, DC Vote’s executive director Bo Shuff issued the following statement:

“DC Vote thanks President Joe Biden for his commitment to changing the Senate filibuster for voting rights. It’s now time for the Senate to take up S. 51, the Washington, DC Admission Act, since its companion legislation has already passed the House and President Biden has already stated his support for DC Statehood.”

“In addition, our friends and allies in the progressive advocacy community must ensure DC Statehood is part of any voting rights legislative package. Using the enfranchisement of District residents as a bargaining chip, particularly when the majority of Americans who live in the District are Black and brown, is counter to the values and mission of organizations committed to voting rights and equality.”

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Listen to the piece, featuring our own Bo Shuff, here.

“The end of Roe v. Wade leaves D.C in an uncertain position. While District officials have reaffirmed abortion rights in the city, a Republican-led Congress could vote to ban abortion in D.C., whether via a standalone bill or as a rider on a funding package.”

Read more here.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
June 24th, 2022

PRESS CONTACT:
Patrice Snow
[email protected]

Washington, DC – With the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, DC Vote’s communications director Patrice Snow released the following statement:

“Today’s ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade and the right to privacy in health decisions will have a unique impact on the District of Columbia. While the Court held that abortion is up to the states, they also decided that for the people of DC, Congress gets to choose. We, the people of DC, support a woman’s right to their own bodies. Yet, without Statehood, that could be overturned by a Congress in which we have no vote. Only full admission to the Union will ensure that the District’s desire to remain a safe haven will not be trampled by Members of Congress seeking to score political points at home.”

“The Dornan rider, which for far too long has been included in both Democratic and Republican budgets alike, already prevents DC from using funds for abortion care. Every state has the right to do so. There is no assurance, given the removal of Roe’s federal protections, that a full abortion ban will not come to the District of Columbia. It is time to end the injustice and oppression of the people of DC and pass DC Statehood.”

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