On May 18, HR 5388 passed the US House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform, by a vote of 29-4. It is now pending in the House Judiciary Committee. HR 5388 gives the District of Columbia a voting member in the U.S. House, and also gives Utah another seat. The bill has 40 co-sponsors.
how can they give DC a vote in the Hiuse w/out a Constitutional Amendment?
How can they give Utah an extra vote w/out taking a vote away from another state?
I agree with Rolf. I cannot see how this can be constitutional. Even if it were, what about Puerto Rico and Guam and the Virgin Islands and Micronesia? It sure won’t take long before their Delegates want to become Representatives, too.
There are 2 separate issues here that needs
to be addressed. First, back in the ’60s when Congress
amended the Constitution to give D.C. 3 electoral votes
it could have given D.C. a seat in the House at that
time, but chose not to. Remember, Congress decides how
many members the House contains. Every decade until the
1920’s the House grew as more States were joining the
Federal Union. By then, we were at 48 States and no
more States were considered likely to join. So, at that
time the House membership was frozen at 431. Then, when
in the late ’50s the Territories of Alaska & Hawaii
entered the Union the House increased membership by 4
seats to the current 435. The corollary to D.C. now
having a voting member in the House is [Does D.C. now
get “2” seats in the Senate?] I would say no, because
it is not a State.
The second issue of the other dependencies
Deleagtes getting House seats is simple. Residents of
and workers in D.C. pay Federal income tax so under
‘no taxation without representation’ one can argue that
D.C. residents deserve to have a voting member in the
House. Which is something that I haven’t noticed being
mentioned in this debate. Puerto Rico and the other
Dependencies residents are exempt from paying income
tax under various Sections in the Internal Revenue
Code. American Samoa & the Northern Mariana Islands
currently have less than 60,000 residents, so they are
ineligible for Statehood. The other 3 have over 100,000
and could petition to become States which would then
automatically give them both House and Senate seats
and increase the Electoral College by 16 seats. Which
would make for a VERY interesting debate in Congress.
Why should we give Utah another seat just because it was runner up?
There are detailed legal arguments for the constitutionality of Congress granting representation to DC residents. One such paper is
http://www.dcvote.org/pdfs/congress/vietdinh112004.pdf
Their main point is:
“We conclude that Congress has ample constitutional authority to enact the District of
Columbia Fairness in Representation Act. The District Clause, U.S. Const. Art. I, § 8, cl. 17,
empowers Congress to “exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such
District†and thus grants Congress plenary and exclusive authority to legislate all matters
concerning the District. This broad legislative authority extends to the granting of
Congressional voting rights for District residents—as illustrated by the text, history and structure
of the Constitution as well as judicial decisions and pronouncements in analogous or related
contexts.”
Thanks Charles for the background. I would rather see DC become a tax free zone than create a potentially messy situation by granting them a voting Member of the House. As a matter of fact, if the whole place became tax free it would probably become one of the most productive enterprise zones on the planet!
I would assume — without having read the bill — that the justification for giving Utah an additional seat is expanding the number of “regular” seats in the House to 436 and then “reapportioning” on the basis of the 2000 census.
The problem with this bill is that it offers a minor palliative while failing to recognize the desire of D.C. residents to govern themselves without having their decisions overturned by an often hostile federal Congress. One vote for Eleanor Holmes Norton is not “statehood” or anything like it.
I believe that D.C. deserves voting representation (I’m strongly in favor of D.C. statehood) and so I think this is a good bill overall. I hope it passes. However, I am uncomfortable with the addition of a representative for Utah. As a matter of political reality, the bill will not pass otherwise (as an additional Utah seat maintains the present party balance), but I do not like the de facto institutionalization of the two-party system.
Here’s a set of ideas Don Lake has been floating since the early 1960s!
Sunset the Elitist Electorial College, Popular vote by authorized (age, containment, registration) in states, territories, and ex patriots in non American areas.
Convert the District of Columbia to Maryland’s County of Columbia.
If we are serious about dismantling the Post Soviet American Empire, then let’s sell off Guam and Micronesian and other West Pacific ‘poccessions’ to Japan for a few trillion $$$$$$$$$ in internation trade defiects!
Sell Hawaii to China for even more $$$$$$$$$$$$!
Sell off Carribean islands!
Swap Alaska for the future state of Saint Lawrence (between New England and the Inland Seaway), and help Canada administer Greenland!
Really monitor the borders of the 48/ 49 contigueous states and quit acting like an Imperial Empire!
One reason Utah was chosen to get the extra seat, is that, more than likely they will elect an Elephant to counter the Donkey elected by DC.
I think that we should return to the Constitutional apportionment of Congressional Seats; although it would increase the size of the House almost 3 times.
I am opposed to Congress passing bills and creating laws that they have no authority to create. The Constitution would need to be amended to give DC or any Territory a voting Representative in Congress.
Article 1 Section 2
The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative
Good exchange, and I think you all got it. Now it is on to the Judicary committee. With 33 cosponsers, I hope it goes somewhere. Now what about the Senate?