From the New York Times:
This could be the year that Washington gets a voting member of Congress.
“There is finally a light at the end of what has been a really long tunnel,” said the city’s nonvoting delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton.
On Wednesday, a Senate committee approved a bill to give the city a voting member of the House of Representatives, clearing the way for the full chamber to take up the matter in the coming weeks.
The legislation would permanently expand the 435-member House by two seats. One seat would go to Washington and the other to Utah, which narrowly missed getting an additional seat after the last census. Utah, which traditionally leans Republican, now has one Democrat and two Republicans in the House.
A similar bill passed in the House in 2007, but the Senate version received only 57 of the 60 necessary votes.
This year, however, with a strong Democratic majority in both houses, supporters of the measure are hopeful — particularly because President Obama, a co-sponsor of the 2007 bill, has said his stance is unchanged.
The Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, has led opposition to the bill , saying it is unconstitutional and that proponents first must pass a constitutional amendment. Republican opponents of the legislation also fear that giving Washington a House member will eventually lead to the city getting two senators, both of whom likely would be Democrats.
“There is finally a light at the end of what has been a really long tunnel,” said the city’s nonvoting delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton.
On Wednesday, a Senate committee approved a bill to give the city a voting member of the House of Representatives, clearing the way for the full chamber to take up the matter in the coming weeks.
The legislation would permanently expand the 435-member House by two seats. One seat would go to Washington and the other to Utah, which narrowly missed getting an additional seat after the last census. Utah, which traditionally leans Republican, now has one Democrat and two Republicans in the House.
A similar bill passed in the House in 2007, but the Senate version received only 57 of the 60 necessary votes.
This year, however, with a strong Democratic majority in both houses, supporters of the measure are hopeful — particularly because President Obama, a co-sponsor of the 2007 bill, has said his stance is unchanged.
The Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, has led opposition to the bill , saying it is unconstitutional and that proponents first must pass a constitutional amendment. Republican opponents of the legislation also fear that giving Washington a House member will eventually lead to the city getting two senators, both of whom likely would be Democrats.
Full story here.
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