Washington Times: The House yesterday approved congressional voting rights for the District of Columbia, granting the D.C. delegate a vote for the first time in the nation's history and adding a seat in Utah to increase the size of the chamber to 437 members. In a 241-177 vote on H.R. 1433, the House approved a bill that Democrats call a long-awaited victory for 600,000 District residents and many Republicans derided as "trampling on the Constitution" . . . most Republicans and the Bush administration argue the bill is unconstitutional because the Constitution says that Congress members must be elected "by the people of the several states." "The District of Columbia is a federal city and not a state," said Rep. Patrick T. McHenry, North Carolina Republican. "The new Democratic majority is trying to pad their numbers on the floor." Mr. McHenry and others say a fairer plan would give portions of the largely Democratic District back to neighboring Maryland. . . . [Read More] [Note: Previously, sections of the District of Columbia provided by Virginia were returned to Virginia.] See also: No D.C. Voting Rights! - Posting and CommentsARRA Comment: What part of the Constitution can we rely on or now even violate? Who gets to decide? It is disappointing that three of our Arkansas' Congressional delegation voted to violate the U.S. Constitution to grant Washington D.C. a voting representative. This action is clearly a violation as evidenced by both the constitution and by previous actions taken by the Congress. They understood the constitutional limitation and offered an amendment to the constitution for a voting representative which defeated by the States. Again, D.C. is not a State. It was to have no representation. Congress could return parts of D.C. to the contributing states who provided the land for the District of Columbia. Jurisdiction over land given by Virginia has already been returned to them. Land that is primarily residential and commercial and is property given by Maryland could be and probably should be returned to Maryland. The three Arkansans who voted to violate the constitution were Marion Berry, Vic Snyder and Mike Ross! Voting with the majority this time does not vindicate or assuage their actions.
Tags: Arkansas, constitution, D.C., Marion Berry, Mike Ross, Vic Snyder, voting, voting rights
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