D.C. may Receive Representation in Congress

During the first few months of its term, the 110th Congress is expected to consider a reintroduced bill that would allow residents of Washington D.C. to elect a voting member to the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill would also allow Utah an additional representative in the House.

This comes after 200 plus years of D.C. citizens paying taxes, fighting in wars and living under acts of Congress.

Janie at The Progressive Truth exclaims, "It's about damn time!":

For over 200 years, the nation's capital has faced "taxation without representation", an ideal that spurred our founding fathers to seperate from England and create a nation where every citizen has a say in how their tax dollars are spent. DC residents have paid taxes, fought in wars, abided by national laws, and served as the seat of our federal government for over two centuries without having a say in how this government was run.

MetaDC believes the bill is not enough:

. . . representation in the House without representation in the Senate is hardly better than no representation at all. The Senate exists to protect small states, and the District is undeniably small. A single member in the House of Representatives is unable to accomplish anything meaningful in terms of actual votes; we need Senators to properly represent us. Moreover, without a promise of our right to vote enshrined in the Constitution, Congress can easily deprive us of that lone House member once again any time it wishes.

Opponents site language in the constitution stating House members must be comprised of "the people of the several states."

Jim Addison of Wizbang Politics proposes letting DC citizens be part of Maryland:

It would be more appropriate to designate District voters part of Maryland, and allow the extra seat to be drawn by the state legislature. I am not sympathetic to the proposed legislation at all.

-Dippold

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