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Senate panel approves D.C. voting bill |
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By Kelly McCormack
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Posted: 06/14/07 07:36 PM [ET] |
D.C. voting rights supporters cleared a hurdle yesterday when a Senate committee passed a bill 9-1 to establish a voting House member for the District of Columbia and add a seat for Utah.
The bill’s passage paves the way for a floor vote, which Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has indicated will take place next month. Advocates hope to garner enough backing to make the bill filibuster-proof.
Republican support of yesterday’s measure suggests that Democrats may be only a few votes away from securing such votes.
Three GOP members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee backed the measure: ranking member Susan Collins (Maine) and Sens. George Voinovich (Ohio) and Norm Coleman (Minn.). Virginia Republican Sen.
John Warner voted against the legislation.
Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and John Sununu (R-N.H.) voted by proxy against the bill. The final vote by proxy was 12-5.
Collins told the panel that the “legislation raises complex issues, but the ultimate goal makes it worth my support.”
Collins offered two amendments to the bill, both of which passed. One seeks to clarify that the bill only would add a House seat for D.C. and would not lead to Senate representation. The other would expedite judicial review of the bill because of the constitutional questions it raises.
“I have concluded that the constitutionality of this legislation is a close call and is best resolved by the courts and not by this committee,” Collins concluded.
Voinovich recalled a time when he was out with some European friends and had to explain why District residents did not have a voting member in Congress. “It was very difficult to explain,” he said. “After weighing the constitutional arguments and inequities, I have decided to support this bill.”
Although Coleman admitted the bill raises constitutional questions, he said, “It is our obligation to move forward and our obligation to act.” He praised the amendment that would allow for expedited judicial review.
Several GOP members in the House have called for expedited judicial review. During a March House Judiciary Committee markup, ranking member Lamar Smith (R-Texas) introduced such an amendment, which failed along party lines.
The bill would increase the size of the House from 435 to 437 members by giving D.C. a voting member and requiring Utah to redistrict in 2008. Utah fell short of gaining a seat in the 2000 census. The House passed a similar measure in April, 241-177.
Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), who strongly supports voting rights for D.C., said he had concerns with the Utah provisions.
“I don’t see this as a partisan issue,” Tester said, but a “fairness issue.”
Stevens spoke against the legislation, calling it “against the Constitution.”
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who is running for president, said the bill is a “sensible approach” and the “time is right” to give District residents a voting member.
“There are constitutional challenges, but I’m confident that this bill will survive,” Obama continued. “I’m glad we are finally seeing this important issue come to fruition.”
Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), chairman of the committee, said the bill “addresses a matter of grave injustice for 600,000” D.C. residents. “It is time to right this historic wrong,” he stated.
Following the markup, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) pointed to Warner, saying he “needs to hear from some of the strong supporters from Virginia.”
Norton indicated that she helped Collins draft the amendments to the bill. “I’m very appreciative that Collins and her staff negotiated language with us,” she said.
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