The COG Board of Directors unanimously approved a resolution calling on Congress to pass legislation establishing voting representation in the U.S. House of Representatives for the District of Columbia and reject the firearms amendment and any other unrelated amendments attached to it.  The COG resolution stated that the intent of the original voting rights bill was “to remedy a long-standing injustice affecting District of Columbia residents denying them equal representation in the U.S. House of Representatives.” 

D.C. Councilmember At-Large and COG President Phil Mendelson introduced the resolution and made an appeal to his regional colleagues to reaffirm their long-standing support of D.C. voting rights.  The COG Board is comprised of local elected officials from the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. 

“Support for D.C. voting rights has been a position of the COG Board for some time,” said COG Board Chairman Penny Gross, who is also Vice Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. 

In 2007, the COG Board of Directors adopted a resolution expressing its support of voting representation in the U.S. House for the District of Columbia.  The D.C. voting rights legislation currently before Congress is in jeopardy because of a firearms amendment unrelated to the intent of the original bill. 

Suburban support for greater political rights for the District is nothing new at COG.  In 1972, then-COG Board Chairman Martha Pennino of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors introduced a resolution supporting Home Rule that was unanimously endorsed by the COG Board.    

Click here to view the resolution.