http://www.google.com/...
It passed! This is huge for many reasons. Not only is this going to be another liberal voice in congress, but this also finally addresses the idea of taxation without representation.
This is from a story earlier today by the AP:
The Senate could pass the bill within days if supporters can fend off hostile amendments designed to peel away support. In the House, which approved the bill two years ago, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said he expects a floor vote next week.
"We see all lights on go," said a beaming Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the city's nonvoting member of Congress who will have the right to vote if she wins re-election in 2010. "There can't be no turning back now."
The momentum for full voting rights has been building for years. In 2000, the city sought to educate the nation about its plight by introducing license plates that proclaimed "Taxation Without Representation."
http://www.google.com/...
Now it goes to the house.
Here is CNN's update on the story:
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com...
WASHINGTON (CNN) — The U.S. Senate approved legislation Thursday that would give the District of Columbia a vote in Congress.
The measure would give full voting rights in the House of Representatives to the district's congressional delegate, whose activity is currently limited to committee votes and procedural issues.
The measure also gives a new House seat to the state of Utah.
The bill now moves to the House, where it is considered likely to pass.
More news on this bill coming...
Update:
The vote Tally, according to several news sites and MTmofo was 61-37.
It looks like they gave Utah an extra seat to get some Republican support... and yet, just like the stimulus bill, republicans didn't support it.
Another update:
From the washington post, here are the basics:
61-37 was the final vote...
Republicans voting FOR:
Hatch
Cochran
Collins
Lugar
Murkowski
Snowe
Specter
Voinovich
Democrats voting AGAINST:
Byrd
Baucus
The bill permanently expands the house by 2 seats
The bill repeals DC gun control regulations that were previously struck down by the supreme court anyway.
The bill adds a vote to Utah but the vote is subject to census-adjustement and may be moved elsewhere
Those are the facts as we know them.