District of Columbia Fair and Equal House Voting Rights Act

[BlingBling]

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said that she was encouraged by a very good meeting with Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) on scheduling congressional consideration of H.R. 328, the District of Columbia Fair and Equal House Voting Rights Act. Norton told the leaders that her request for a mark-up in February and floor consideration no later than March would also benefit the calendar, which will fill quickly with appropriations and committee business by early spring. The congressional calendar is lean now because committees are just being organized and have not had time to have the hearings necessary to develop significant bills. Hoyer agreed on a March goal, but said that meetings would be necessary with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), as well, to get final agreement. A number of issues were discussed at the meeting which the Congresswoman believes are already dealt with in the bill or can be addressed without difficulty. She spent four years addressing Democratic leadership concerns about the bill, which Speaker Pelosi co-sponsored in the last Congress. Norton said that she was prepared to engage in "the same careful problem-solving effort to get the bill to the floor by March."

 

The Congresswoman said that increasing anxiety in the District about any significant delay in the bill concerns the uniqueness of the Utah-D.C. scenario and the approaching census, which will remove this unique bipartisan opportunity. Analysts report that it is highly unlikely that there will soon again be a Republican district like Utah that data shows is definitely due the next seat, willing to be paired with D.C. Utah has nursed almost 10 years of resentment at missing out on a new seat and felt so strongly that the state took the issue to the U.S. Supreme Court. Congress has never increased representation without requiring political balance, most recently in the admissions of Hawaii and Alaska to the Union.

 

Norton said she was confident that the longstanding, high profile Democratic support of D.C. voting rights would bear fruit this year for a seat in the 110th Congress. "I know I speak for the people of my city when I say how deeply we have appreciated the unfailing Democratic support for our rights, from party platforms and presidential leadership to congressional bills and assistance here of all kinds," she said. The Congresswoman said that while her efforts in the Congress are expected, Mayor Adrian Fenty has offered important leadership in channeling the concerns of city residents in the recent announcement of his "Campaign for the D.C. Vote Now." In subsequent conversations, she said the Mayor told her that the first effort in his campaign would be the rally and lobby day he would lead with DC Vote and the civil rights coalition on February 15th.