D.C. legislators and residents demonstrated near the Capitol Building on Monday to tell members of Congress to respect District voters.
The "Hands Off DC Rally" was held as the House Oversight Committee voted on whether to invalidate a D.C. law. Chairman Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican, voted to stop the "Death with Dignity" law approved by the D.C. Council and signed by Mayor Muriel Bowser.
Councilman Charles Allen and Councilman David Grosso, among others, urged D.C. residents to attend the rally.
"Tell Representative Chaffetz and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to keep their #HandsOffDC as they vote to override the will of District residents," a Facebook invitation from Allen says.
As of noon, nearly 400 Facebook users said they would attend.
Attendee Josh Bursch, an advocate for D.C. statehood, said Congress should butt out of District affairs.
"These are laws that our legislators, who we duly elected, wrote for us, and passed in our Council, and our mayor signed into law," he said. "Congress should have no say in it. They don't have a say in local laws in other states -- they shouldn't have a say here."
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The rally was set to be held from 5 to 6 p.m. in The Spirit of Justice Park, at South Capitol and C streets NE. Afterward, an organizing meeting was set to be held at 6:30 p.m. at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, at 1333 H Street NE.
Stay with News4 for more details on this developing story.
