The District inched closer Tuesday to its 200-year goal of congressional representation with the U.S. Senate’s decision to debate a D.C. voting rights bill on the floor, setting up days of wrangling before a final vote.
The Senate voted 62-34 to squelch a potential filibuster and move the voting rights act to the floor, clearing a crucial hurdle it failed to top in 2007. Supporters picked up two votes more than they needed, including eight Republicans, for the procedural “cloture” vote.
“We see all lights on go,” said nonvoting D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat. “There can be no turning back now.”
The legislation would add two seats to the U.S. House of Representatives, one going to D.C. and the other to Utah. Senators will debate the measure before taking perhaps another cloture vote, and then a final roll call vote.
Senate opponents might try to amend the bill during the upcoming debate, but Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he was “confident that any mischievous amendments will be tabled.” Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., wants to attach a permanent ban of the Fairness Doctrine to the bill. There also is talk of attempts to go after D.C.’s gun control laws.
“I think we have the 60 votes to get this bill done,” said Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md. “What worries me is the amendment process.”
Mayor Adrian Fenty called the vote a “breakthrough” and the beginning of “this last chapter in fulfilling the promise of the founders of this country, that no American citizen would pay federal taxes but would go without representation in their national legislature.”
Critics say the bill violates the Constitution, which allocates House seats only to the people “of the several states.” The District already has full representation, said Minority Whip Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., in “100 senators and 435 House members.”
Supporters respond that the Constitution’s District clause provides Congress with sweeping powers over D.C., including the authority to enfranchise its citizens.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said if the bill became law, it would almost certainly “end up in court, and ultimately, the Supreme Court will determine whether or not you can do this by statute.”
Similar legislation is likely to win House approval next week. President Barack Obama is expected to sign the bill.
