- Messages
- 2,072
- Reactions
- 414
An interesting <broken link removed> ....
D.C. voting rights bill tied to gun laws
The Senate approved a bill Thursday to provide the nation's capital with a voting representative in the House, but it came with a hitch. An amendment was added that would repeal most of the city's gun-control regulations.
By IAN URBINA
The New York Times
WASHINGTON The Senate approved a bill Thursday to provide the nation's capital with a voting representative in the House, but it came with a hitch. An amendment was added that would repeal most of the city's gun-control regulations.
Approved by a 61-37 vote, the District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act would expand the House for the first time since 1913, providing a vote for Washington and an additional seat for Utah, which narrowly missed getting one after the last census.
The measure is likely to end up in the courts, however, even if a similar bill passes the House, as is expected next week. President Obama has said he will sign the legislation.
Residents and officials of the District of Columbia a 61-square-mile area with a population of almost 600,000, about 55 percent of it black have engaged in a long, slow fight for representation in Congress.
"This is a great victory," said Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent Democrat from Connecticut and a co-sponsor of the bill. "More directly, it's a victory for the 600,000 people of the District of Columbia."
The action faces obstacles. It almost surely will face a court challenge from opponents who think the Constitution restricts voting representation to states, which the District of Columbia is not.
In addition, the gun amendment makes the Senate measure significantly different from the bill in the House, which could slow passage. But some members of Congress said the amendment was unlikely to survive negotiations between the House and Senate over a final version of the bill.
The amendment came eight months after the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the city's previous gun ban violated the Constitution's provision on bearing arms. The amendment would limit the city's authority to restrict firearms, repeal its ban on semi-automatic weapons and remove gun-registration requirements.
Washington residents long have chafed under what they view as Congress' paternalistic role in the city's affairs without representation there, despite residents being federal taxpayers. That sentiment is summed up by the motto on the district's license plates: "Taxation Without Representation."
"It's a big deal because D.C. has been treated as a colony of the United States," said Jane Freundel Levey, a historian for Cultural Tourism DC, a nonprofit group.
"It's a big deal because D.C.'s budget is subject to the approval of Congress; no other city has that. It's a big deal because Congress controls our judiciary and courts."
In 1971, Congress granted Washington a nonvoting member in the House, a seat held today by Democratic Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton.
Two years later, Congress approved the Home Rule Act, which allowed Washington residents to elect a mayor and 13 City Council members. However, Congress maintained the right to review and overturn Washington laws.
