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

I got the word last night that hearings have been scheduled in the committees of jurisdiction for H.R. 328. It seems Speaker Nancy Pelosi has give the green light to move forward and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has pledged to get things moving this month. In a statement, Hoyer said:

“I am pleased to announce that the House of Representatives will vote on a bill to give the people of Washington, DC full representation in the People’s House by the end of the month. The people of the District have waited too long to have a voice in the House. Democrats promised to move this legislation in the first months of the new Congress and that is what we are doing.”

So now things are in the Judiciary and Oversight committees. We need to put some pressure on the representatives in those committees from people who live in their districts – and from everyone in the country.

According to DC Vote, the schedule (which is still in flux) will very likely will include committee mark-ups as soon as next week!

Please, go to http://www.freeandequaldc.com and take action. Send the link to anyone you know who’d support us on this action. Things are moving, let’s keep it that way!

It’s in the news at:

Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/07/AR2007030702279.html

New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/cq/2007/03/07/cq_2376.html

I’ve been working on a new grassroots action site, and it’s finally done. It’s at FreeAndEqual.com and it enables people to easily send a message to their U.S. Senators and Representatives in support of H.R. 328.

If you live in DC you can use the site to send a message to your friends and family who live outside of the District.

Please take five minutes and take action.

An old boss of mine in the non-profit world used to use the expression a lot. I think it’s a very fitting expression for the coordinated efforts of the DC voting rights community today. My hat is off to DC Vote for coordinating the whole event, which I thought was great. I’ve worked on these “lobby days” before for other groups and when things go as smoothly as they did today, it’s because someone was sweating the details…and DC Vote did just that.

It was a great sight this morning as hundreds of people assembled in the Cannon Caucus room to hear introductory remarks from Mayor Fenty, Chairman Gray, and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton. Dozens of people who work so hard on this issue were on Capitol Hill today lobbying in support of H.R. 328. It was cool to see the “real” Washington showing up to lobby the “official” Washington.

I captained a team of people today and we had a number of meetings with Congressional staff. We would brief them about the bill, ask if they had any questions and inquire about their boss’s stance if they knew it.
Our “asks” in these meeting were:

• Can you help get it through the Judiciary Committee?
• Would your boss like to co-sponsor the bill?

You never get firm commitments from staffers (they can’t speak for their boss if he/she hasn’t taken a stance yet) but we had a lot of positive signals in our meetings and I think we may have actually picked up a few co-sponsors today.

Overall, it was a very positive day and I think we moved the ball downfield on the issue.

Update: Here is the Post’s coverage:

Seeking A Vote On Vote For D.C.
Hundreds Gather To Persuade Lawmakers
Were you there? What was your impression of the day? Please comment below.

First, let me say that I was on the Hill today with DC Vote and their organized lobby day. They had a great showing and we fanned out storm the Hill to meet with Congress and their staffs. There were a lot of success stories and a sense of momentum after the event, and we were all full of hope that it might just get done…(sigh)

But word came a little while ago that the House Republicans has chosen not to bring the bill forward in the lame duck session. This from the Post article “GOP House Leaders Choose to Let Bill Die“:

Republican congressional leaders decided yesterday not to bring to the floor a bill giving the District a full voting member of the House, dooming the measure’s chances in this legislative session.”

I hope we can get it done next session…but priorities and agendas change. We all need to keep the momentum going. Stay tune for more info on what’s next in this fight.