At least if you live in the District of Columbia
Republican lawmakers today blocked the Senate from taking up the D.C. voting rights bill, dealing a major blow to the District’s most promising effort in years to get a full member of Congress.
The vote was merely on whether to begin action on the bill. But only 57 senators voted in favor, short of the 60 needed to proceed. Without enough support to vault the Senate’s procedural hurdles, the bill is expected to stall for this year, and possibly next year as well.
Thankfully.
Unfortunately, the bill would have also given Utah the Representative that Utah has earned. There should be no compromise necessary to get Utah their new Congressional Rep. as they have to proven population growth to get it.
And remember, this “Compromise” would have very likely also given the District two Senators as well as a Congressional Rep.
Doesn’t sound like a “Compromise” to me. Maybe that is what Dems think “Compromise” means, but they’ve got their head up their ass. More on that in another post below.
Even had it passed, I would expect an immediate challenge on Constitutional grounds, based on Art IV, Sec III, Par 1: “no new State shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other State”
If DC isn’t the federal district, it’s part of Maryland.
Oh, and if Congress was trying to give DC a rep and Senators without making it a state, then, well, that’s unconstitutional as well, since only states get those.
Here’s what I advocate: Fedgov should use eminent domain to acquire all privately owned property within DC. They should then entirely occupy all the land with government offices, first moving them out of any building in WV bearing Robert Byrd’s name. Leasing some space within those buildings for commercial uses (restaurants, gas stations, and such) would be allowed, but DC would not have anyone actually living there.
Solves the “DC citizens are denied representation” problem quite nicely.