In its first actual work session of 2007, the D.C. Council made an early push for voting rights with the introduction of legislation that would let visitors know how many tax dollars District residents have paid the federal government without full representation in Congress.
Councilman Kwame Brown, D-At large, introduced the legislation, which would place an LED counter outside the John A. Wilson Building on Pennsylvania Avenue and at the new baseball stadium in Southeast upon its completion. Brown introduced similar legislation during the last legislative session.
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District residents have paid more than $40 billion in federal taxes since the 1940s, Brown said.
“Hopefully we can send a message to the world,” Brown said.
Council Member Carol Schwartz, R-At large, co-introduced the bill. She said she believes many visitors to the nation’s capital are unaware that District Democratic Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton does not have a vote in Congress. She called the proposed signs an “educational tool.”
Norton has pledged to make the debate over District voting rights front and center at the outset of the 110th Congress.
Ten council members signed on to support the bill. Chairman Vincent Gray referred it to the Committee of the Whole, which includes all council members.
“Why not use this building with our prime location to tell tourists of our plight?” Schwartz said.
