WASHINGTON (FinalCall.com)�The issue of whether citizens of the nation�s capital should have voting representation in Congress, or be exempted from paying taxes, got a hearing before a Senate committee May 23 for the first time in more than a decade.

Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) members joined city officials and civil rights leaders to support the "No Taxation With Representation Act" sponsored by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) and Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) Their goal is to "help educate the Senate" about the denial of voting representation to D.C. residents.

More than 250 D.C. residents descended on Congress to lobby House and Senate members in favor of co-sponsoring the legislation that would grant D.C. the congressional vote. The District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands are all granted non-voting delegates to Congress. Unlike those living in D.C., residents of other areas with non-voting delegates are not required to pay federal income taxes.

D.C. residents pay more federal income taxes per capita than the residents of 49 states, but they have no voice in how Congress spends that money. More D.C. residents have died in wars protecting the nation than the residents of 20 states, yet they have no say concerning whether or not Congress declares war.

The Norton legislation is less about cutting taxes for D.C. residents than it is about voting rights, a congressional source said in an interview.

Sen. Lieberman told the hearing that the tax provision was not literal, but "pointed and ironic" to evoke the nation�s founding principles in the district�s behalf.

The denial of D.C. voting rights even has a bearing on the alleged disenfranchisement of Florida residents in the 2000 national election, according to Del. Norton.

"The voting rights issues raised in Florida in the 2000 presidential election only served to spotlight the denial of any vote at all in the Congress for D.C. residents," Del. Norton said in her testimony.

"If you want to get African Americans in this country angry today," testified CBC Chair Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Tex.), "just tell them that there is a majority-Black city anywhere in America where Blacks and other Americans are treated as second-class citizens."

Some D.C. activists believe Congress can grant D.C. voting representation by statute, just as it can confer statehood, according to Jamin Raskin, a law professor at American University. In 1978 Congress passed a constitutional amendment to grant D.C. voting representation, but it died in 1985 after winning support from only 16 of the necessary 38 state legislatures.

The CBC also cheered an announcement of three federal lawsuits surrounding the 2000 election. "We were very pleased to learn that the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department will file three lawsuits against Florida counties and two others in Missouri and Tennessee," Rep. Johnson said. "Although this lawsuit is very appropriate, it is long overdue and we hope it is not just �window dressing.�"