Reform backs D.C. voting rights

The Reform movement praised the U.S. House of Representatives for passing a law that would grant the District of Columbia a voting member in Congress. “The nearly 600,000 residents of Washington, D.C. fight in the armed forces, pay federal income taxes and serve on juries, but are granted no voting representation in Congress,” Reform’s Religious Action Center said in a statement Friday, a day after the act passed. “As American soldiers are put in harm’s way around the world for the stated mission of spreading democracy, we can no longer ignore the hypocrisy of denying a full voice in government to the residents of our nation’s capital. We applaud the House of Representatives for passing this momentous piece of legislation, but reserve our celebration for the day that the president signs the bill into law.” President Bush has suggested he will veto the bill, which he says is unconstitutional. Washington’s current single member may vote in committee but not in the full House.