DC Voting Rights Advocates Pushing Harder for Vote on Bill
Feature Story by Tyler Lewis - 1/26/2007
Advocates are pushing hard for passage of a bill that would give DC residents voting representation in the House of Representatives.
On January 9, Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, D. D.C. and Rep. Thomas M. Davis, R. Va. reintroduced the D.C. Fair and Equal House Voting Rights Act. It would raise House membership to 437 members by giving the District of Columbia one seat and an additional seat to Utah, a state that was short-changed in the 2001 reapportionment.
"I hope to have the special honor of casting the vote I have sought for 16 years," said Norton, in her statement on the House floor. "I want to cast that vote for the citizens of this city, whom I have had the great privilege of representing, who have fought with me every step of the way, and who have waited interminably for justice."
Rep. Davis and Norton had hoped to pass the bill last Congress, where it had built up significant momentum, passing by a wide margin in the House Committee on Government Reform in May 2006. However, the House leadership at the time failed to bring the bill to the floor for a vote.
"We got further than anyone ever had before last session, and this time, we're going to push it over the top. It's a matter of fairness. It always has enjoyed bipartisan support. Speaker Nancy Pelosi was a cosponsor last time, and we're hoping for her continued support," said Rep. Davis.
New D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty called the bill's passage DC's "number one priority."
On January 19, Mayor Fenty announced a "people's march" for D.C. voting rights scheduled for April 16. He joins a broad coalition of groups pushing for passage of the bill that includes DC Vote, the NAACP, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), the D.C. Chamber of Commerce, and the D.C. Republican Committee.
"Passing this bill is long overdue," said LCCR President and CEO Wade Henderson. "It's the time to right these wrongs and bring democracy back to the nation's capital."
The House passed an internal rule, (226-191), on January 24 that would give D.C and four non-voting representatives the right to vote on amendments to bills on the House floor. While supportive in principle, some D.C. voting rights advocates expressed concern that the momentum behind the resolution could distract from the Norton-Davis bill.
Norton is pushing for action on the Norton-Davis bill in early March.
