Floor Statements
March 22, 2007
Media Contact: Ray Yonkura
(202) 225-2676
District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act of 2007
SPEECH OF
HON. JIM JORDAN
OF OHIO
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 22, 2007
Mr. JORDAN of Ohio. Madam Speaker, the United States of America is the greatest Nation in human history. And that is due to a number of reasons, number of facts, number of truths that make that so. But certainly, one of those is the document we call the United States Constitution. And on giving the District of Columbia a voting Member in Congress, the United States Constitution could not be more clear. And let me just read what other Members have read: ``Article I, section 2, the House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second year by the people of the several States. No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the age of 25 years and have been 7 years a citizen of the United States and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen. Further, when vacancies happen in the representation from any State, the executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies.''
State, State, State. Three different times the word State is used. The District of Columbia is not a State. I can't help that inconvenient fact, as someone has said earlier. But those are the facts. You don't have to be a lawyer. You don't have to be a judge. You don't have to sit on the Supreme Court to understand what the Constitution says.
This bill is unconstitutional, and that is why I oppose it…
