Under a measure that passed the House by a wide margin last year, but fell to a Republican-led filibuster in the Senate on a 57-42 vote, Norton would receive a vote in the House on behalf of the District's nearly 600,000 residents. The Republicans in the senate were rumored to have defeated the measure because of their fear that the Democratically inclined, largely black population of Washington, DC would provide another Democratic pick-up, thus depriving the Republicans of yet another seat. Imagine that, Republicans stifeling representation for a largely black populace in DC, home of the United States Of America, and the freedom for which it stands. The bill also would give Utah an additional House member, bringing the total in the House to 437.
This year's Democratic pick-ups seem likely to assure its passage if it returns to the floor of both houses, as all seven Republicans who were replaced by Democrats voted against the measure.
President-elect Barack Obama co-sponsored the Senate bill and he would be expected to sign the measure into law if it is resubmitted for a vote. Norton has stated that she plans to do so in this next session Congress.
“After 209 years, District residents will have not only a president who has already changed America, and the president that our residents most wanted, but they will have a Democratic president, who, as senator, co-sponsored the District of Columbia Voting Rights Act, and has told me he will sign our bill,” Norton said in a statement, released after Obama's victory.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
As Senate Democrats prepare for next year's agenda, they are likely to have a working filibuster-proof majority on a variety of legislative issues that could provide early victories for President-elect Barack Obama.
Though they are two votes short of their quest for 60 votes -- with two races still undecided -- Democrats say that regular support from a few Republican moderates will allow them to pass bills that were halted in the current Congress by GOP parliamentary roadblocks. These include health-care programs, immigration revisions and presidential nominations.
"The truth is . . . we will be fine on most major issues. We will almost always have some moderate Republican support," said Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.).
Voting rights in Congress for the District of Columbia is another example. Legislation to expand the House of Representatives from 435 to 437 seats by giving the District and Utah an additional vote each were three votes shy of the 60 needed to end a filibuster in September 2007. Eight Republicans voted with the Democratic majority, which is 51 to 49 and includes two independents.
Come January, seven Republicans who voted against the compromise plan to allow Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) to become a full-fledged member of the House will be replaced by Democrats. Aides said they are not clear when the legislation will be reconsidered, but some District voting-rights activists are so confident of passage that they are advocating a push for two District seats in the Senate. Norton, however, favors seeking just the House seats.
Congress fixed the number of House seats at 435 in 1911. The body temporarily increased to 437 members in 1959 to give Alaska and Hawaii one member each, then returned back to 435 members after the next census.
With an assist from Raw Story.
http://rawstory.com/...
Comments are closed on this story.