March 3, 2023

The Honorable Senator X
United States Senate
Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senator X,

I write to you on behalf of the hundreds of members of the Stand Up! for Democracy in D.C. (FREE D.C.) Coalition. We are residents of the District of Columbia and we oppose all efforts in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate to disapprove laws adopted and enacted by the Council of the District of Columbia, including:

         D.C. Act 24-789, the Revised Criminal Code Act of 2022; and
         D.C. Act 24-640, the Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2022.

For the last 50 years, we have had the right to self-govern ourselves as granted under the District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973. D.C. residents duly elect a mayor and 13 councilmembers, who make recommendations and amendments and then enact changes to our local laws. In turn, our elected leaders are accountable to the voters of the District of Columbia.

Congress does not ever interfere in the local matters of the 50 states – including your great state – and we demand that senators elected to represent jurisdictions elsewhere also not meddle in our local affairs by over-turning our laws.

No matter your personal opinion on these two aforementioned pieces of legislation, you should not react by upending the democratic rights of nearly 700,000 American citizens who reside directly in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol Building.

A vote to affirm these two disapproval resolutions is a vote to severely limit democracy and self-determination in our nation’s capital.

Therefore, we ask that you reject disapproval resolutions S.J.Res.5, S.J.Res.6 and S.J.Res.12 – joint resolutions seeking to overturn legislation lawfully passed by our D.C. Councilmembers.

Members of the U.S. Senate should never interfere with self-governance in the District of Columbia. It is unfathomable. It is un-American. It is undemocratic. And it is beyond shameful to treat U.S. citizens as second-class citizens living in a colony of the U.S. government.

Democratically yours,

Anise Jenkins
Executive Director
Stand Up! for Democracy in D.C. (FREE D.C.) Coalition

P.S. D.C. RESIDENTS ARE UNABLE TO CONTACT YOU VIA YOUR WEBSITE. PLEASE DON’T SHUT US OUT!

Stand Up! / Free D.C. was founded in 1997 to help the residents of our nation’s capital achieve full
and equal citizenship rights by agitating, educating, organizing and mobilizing for D.C. statehood.

FREE D.C. ~ Statehood NOW!