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Debate over D.C. voting rights resumes before House panel
By: Michael Neibauer
Examiner Staff Writer
January 28, 2009
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| D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton and House Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer, right, testifed before a House subcommittee Tuesday backing a bill that would create one new House seat for the District and one for Utah. (Examiner File) |
The bill, introduced by D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, is virtually identical to a measure that won House approval in 2007, only to be stopped three votes shy in the Senate. It creates two new House seats, one for Democratic-leaning D.C. and the other for Republican-leaning Utah, which came closest to adding a seat during the last reapportionment.
“Now, in this time of change for America, we can succeed where so many before us failed,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said in his testimony before the Judiciary subcommittee on the Constitution, civil rights and civil liberties. “We can give the people of this city the equal vote they deserve, the equal say in the decisions that shape their lives every day.”
The legal arguments from both sides were familiar after several years of similar debate. Supporters say the Constitution provides Congress with total power over all District affairs, including the authority to enfranchise its citizens. Opponents argue the measure clearly violates Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution: “The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several states.”
“There are proper methods to address the unfairness of Washington, D.C.’s taxation without representation, but the bill under consideration by the committee today is not one of those methods,” said Rep. Louis Gohmert, R-Texas, who testified in opposition.
Gohmert said he would introduce legislation this week, inspired by D.C.’s “Taxation Without Representation” slogan, to absolve District residents of their federal tax burden until they have a vote. He also plans to reintroduce a measure that retrocedes D.C. to Maryland control.
“Washingtonians are looking for representation,” said Ilir Zherka, executive director of D.C. Vote. “They don’t want to trade taxes for second-class citizenship. They’re looking to be equal.”
Norton’s voting rights measure is likely to pass the House again, perhaps within weeks, leaders indicated. The Senate remains the sticking point, but Democrats there are nearing a filibuster-proof majority. President Obama would be expected to sign the bill.
The “stars are aligning,” testified former Republican Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia, who first crafted the voting rights bill several years ago.
