Human and Civil Rights

One year ago, my dear friend Tony Coelho issued the “Coelho Challenge,” urging the disability community to only support Presidential candidates who adopt a five-point agenda for dismantling the barriers to work for people with disabilities.

As Tony stated then, and as those of us here today recognize: “Work provides discipline and structure to our lives.  It is a source of identity and social acceptance. . . Work makes sustaining life and building a material existence vastly easier.”

WASHINGTON--- House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (Mo.) and House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (Md.), sponsors of legislation authorizing several programs for Special Olympics, applauded its unanimous passage late last night.

WASHINGTON, DC – The House Democratic Leadership, including Leader Nancy Pelosi, Whip Steny Hoyer, Caucus Chairman Bob Menendez, and Vice Chairman Jim Clyburn, was joined by 81 members of the House Democratic Caucus in writing to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell today to request an FCC investigation into Sinclair Broadcasting Inc.’s decision to pre-empt regular programming on its 62 affiliates across the country in order to air a 90-minute anti-Kerry attack before the November 2nd election:

WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer joined Senator Hillary Clinton, Democratic Caucus Chairman Bob Menendez, Rep. Chaka Fattah, and People for the American Way President Ralph Neas to highlight examples of voter intimidation.   Incidents of voter intimidation were well-documented during the 2000 presidential election and have continued to occur in local and state elections.  The following is Rep. Hoyer’s statement as prepared for delivery and below the letter to the networks referenced :

» Please view "The Weekly Whip" for the week of September 27, 2004

» Please view referenced documents bundled together in a PDF

WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer spoke today on the House Floor in opposition to the Republican leadership’s effort to amend the United States Constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage.  The following is his statement as prepared for delivery:

“Mr. Speaker, first let me say that I support the traditional definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman.  I voted for the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996.

WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer spoke on the floor today in support of the Democratic Motion to Instruct conferees on the FY 2005 Department of Defense Authorization Bill.  The Motion to Instruct would retain the Senate-passed hate crimes legislation in the Conference Report to ensure that state and local law enforcement can effectively investigate and prosecute hate crimes.  The following is Rep. Hoyer’s statement as prepared for delivery:

WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) released the following statement this evening after speaking on the House Floor earlier in support of a House resolution calling for the suspension of Sudan's membership on the United Nations Commission on Human Rights:

“The international community can no longer avert its eyes from the humanitarian and human rights catastrophe that is occurring in the Darfur region of Sudan today.

WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (MD) asked the Governors of all 50 states in a letter sent today to recognize and honor provisional ballots in the upcoming November election in order to protect voters’ rights from administrative or technical error.  Provisional ballots are a crucial part of the landmark election reform legislation the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA), of which Hoyer was the lead House Democratic sponsor: 

The full text of letter is below:

September 17, 2004

Dear Governor ---:

WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (MD) released the following statement on the occasion of the grand opening of the National Museum of the American Indian today.  The Museum, the newest member of the Smithsonian family, is located on the National Mall and showcases the history, culture, and traditions of American Indian tribes in the United States: