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Motion expressing the Sense of Council of Allegheny County, fully endorsing and supporting DC Vote and its mission to secure full voting representation in Congress for the residents of the District of Columbia.
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WHEREAS, over half a million people living in the District of Columbia, capital of our democratic nation, are denied voting representation in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives; and
WHEREAS, District of Columbia residents are denied local governmental autonomy and must submit their local budget for approval to the U.S. Congress in which they have no voting representation; and
WHEREAS, District of Columbia residents share all the responsibilities of American citizenship but are denied equal civil rights with their fellow Americans living in the states; and
WHEREAS, District of Columbia residents have fought and died to defend America's democracy in every war since the War for Independence; and
WHEREAS, District of Columbia residents serve more per capita on federal juries than all but one jurisdiction in the United States; and
WHEREAS, District of Columbia residents pay over $3 billion annually in federal income taxes; and
WHEREAS, our nation is founded on the principles of “one person, one vote” and government by the consent of the governed; and
WHEREAS, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States has found the United States to be in violation of international human rights law for its disenfranchisement of District of Columbia residents; and
WHEREAS, Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power, “To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such District … as may … become the seat of the government of the United States,” and, “To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers;” and
WHEREAS, the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution provides all citizens of the United States of America with the guarantee of the equal protection of the laws, and gives Congress the power to enforce such guarantee;
NOW THEREFORE, IT IS MOVED, AND IT IS THE SENSE OF THE COUNCIL OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY, that this Body fully endorses and supports DC Vote and its mission to secure full voting representation in Congress for the residents of the District of Columbia.