After a long summer and waiting out the Senate’s ‘vacation without representation’ the DC Voting Rights Act (S. 1257) is due for a cloture vote Tuesday at 2:30 PM. This is a make-or-break moment for this bill, we’ll need 60 votes to be sure to beat any filibuster attempts.

What can you do to help? Glad you asked!

1. Attend the DC Vote rally on Capitol Hill on Monday, September 17th. It’s from 11:00 to 12:30 at the Dirksen Senate Office Building at Constitution Avenue, NE and 1st Street, NE. You can RSVP with our friends at DC for Democracy by clicking here. I’ll be there and I hope you can be too.

2. National Call in Day for DC Voting Rights: Also on Monday, September 17th there is a national call in day to the Senate to urge the passage of the DC Voting Rights Act. The number is 1.866.346.3008 between the hours of 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM EDT. Targeted Senators include:

• Arlen Specter (R-PA)
• Richard Lugar (R-IN)
• Gordon Smith (R-OR)
• Sam Brownback (R-KS)
• John McCain (R-AZ)
• Thad Cochran (R-MS)

If you need some talking points, Marc Fisher had a great list of reasons for Senators to vote for this bill in his column earlier this week:

Giving D.C. Residents the Vote: It’s the Right Thing to Do

Tuesday will be an historic day for DC Voting rights - please do what you can make sure it’s also a day of celebration.

I just got back into town after being at YearlyKos the latter half of last week. We (Danny Rose from DC Vote, Martin Austermuhle from DCist, and Keshini Luddewhetty from DC for Democracy, and myself) had a great session on DC Voting Rights and Martin even live blogged it in case you couldn’t make it.

I talked to anyone and everyone who would listen about the need to pass the DC Voting Rights Act so that we could end our colonial status in our our own country. I even told Howard Dean that, although I liked his 50-state strategy..I was more interested in a 51 state strategy. He laughed and said he’s been working to get the DC Voting Rights Act passed. I said it’s a good first step

Did you know that the Olympics start in one year?? Do you know what we are going to do if this bill doesn’t pass? That’s right…fire up the ‘ole DC Olympic Team. What should be our summer sport?

As you know, the DC Voting Rights Act is still in the Senate where it is just a few votes shy of being filibuster proof. Next week Congress leaves town for its August recess, so it’s urgent that you take some time for one more push on this bill before the Senate shuts down on August 3rd. Here are few quick things you can do:

National Call in Day

Tomorrow (Tuesday, July 24) DC Vote is organizing a national call-in day for the DC Voting Rights Act. Please take a minute and call 1.866.346.3008 between the hours of 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM EST, and you will be patched through to your Senate office. Tell your Senator to pass the DC House Voting Rights Act (S. 1257) this summer! If you live in DC, you will have the chance to tell the office of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell how much this legislation would mean to you. The call is free and it will make a difference.

Lunchtime Rally

On Wednesday on July 25 from 12:00 - 1:30 PM, DC Vote will be organizing another voting rights rally outside of the Dirksen and Hart Senate Office Buildings. We will meet on the north side of Constitution Avenue between First and Second Streets, NE, for a short rally and then fan out in the Senate office buildings to distribute literature to staffers. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), one of the sponsors of the DC House Voting Rights Act, is a tentative special guest.

Do You Know Anyone in Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Oregon, Pennsylvania, or Virginia?

If so please tell them to go to http://www.FreeAndEqualDC.com and send a message to their Senators. They are the swing states . . .and we need to you to push them the right way!

DC Voting Rights at YearlyKos Convention

On Friday August 3rd I’ll be leading a panel entitled “Taxation Without Representation: Alive and Well in the Nation’s Capital” at the YearlyKos convention in Chicago. I’ll be joined by Martin Austermuhle from Dcist.com, Kesh Ladduwahetty from DC for Democracy, and Danny Rose from DC Vote.

YearlyKos is an annual conference of the top progressive political bloggers in the country. Many of these bloggers are very influential in their state’s political scene, thus having them educated and mobilized on District voting rights is critical. I always say the fight for DC voting rights takes place in every district during every election and these bloggers will be key allies in all those races. You can find out more at: http://www.yearlykosconvention.org.

Please do what you can to help out this week. Thanks for all that you do!

Despite the wind, cold, and rain thousands of people showed up today to march and demand a vote for the District of Columbia in the House of Represenatatives. We heard from Mayor Fenty, Chairman Gray, and Delegate Norton - all of whom gave fantastic speeches on the issue in front of a very enthusiastic crowd. The weather cut short the time for eloquent remarks that would have been made by the Shadow Delegation, but I’m not one to have people stand in the rain.

Afterward we had a nice reception in the Dirksen Senate Office Building hosted by Senator Lieberman. I used to intern for him back in 1989, so of course he remembered all the great work I did stuffing envelopes and answering phones. (Just kidding…but I did hang up on his wife in the first hour of my internship. Way to hit the ground running in DC!).

Senator Lieberman has been a huge champion on this issue and I know his leadership in the Senate will get this bill to the desk of the President. And if he doesn’t sign it, we’ll take to the streets again and march the other way on Pennsylvania Ave!

A tip of the hat to DC Vote and all their coalition partners in running such a smooth event. The people came out in force today, and it will make a difference.

Updated: Here is the Post article on the event:
“Getting Out to Get a Vote”
(PHOTO: IntangableArts)

Great news from Capitol Hill today. The House Judiciary Committee passed the DC Voting Rights Act by a vote of 21-13. The bill is expected to go to the full floor sometime late next week. Most people, myself included, expect it to pass.

I was in the hearing room today during the mark-up, and it was entertaining to say the least. I have to take a minute to thank Representative Mike Pence (R-Ind.) who joined Democrats in voting for the bill. He also promised to help pass it in the full House.

According to the Washington Post, he told Delegate Norton his support was “heartfelt”. I know I speak for everyone in the District when we thank him for his vote and welcome his help for final passage. I hope people back in his district give him credit for this vote as well.

It’s been quite a week for this issue with a hearing and two successful markups from key committees. It took a lot of work from a lot of people to get us this far…but we are nowhere near having this thing signed, sealed, and delivered. When it passes the House, we still need to get it through the Senate and that’s gonna take work. You can help by taking two minutes and going to http://www.freeandequaldc.com - send the link to your friends, add it to your email signature, and just get people to take action!

We’re almost there, let’s keep up the momentum.

Here’s the post article:

House Committee Passes D.C. Voting Bill