Today the House passed a resolution to give the citizens of the District of Columbia the right to elect a voting member in the House of Representatives.  The bill would also give Utah an additonal at-large House seat, which was denied after the 2000 Census failed to count the several thousand Mormon Missionaries serving abroad.  If it is approved and signed by the President, the bill would for the first time, give Citizens of the Democratic leaning District of Columbia a voting member in Congress, and give Republican leaning Utah an extra seat increasing the size of the House of Representatives from 435 to 437.

The bill was first introduced in March, but Democrats withdrew the bill after an attempt by Republicans to add an amendment which would have lifted a ban on simiautomatic handguns in the District of Columbia.   The bill was re-introduced this week with rules to prevent Republicans from using parliamentary proceedure to hold the bill hostage at gunpoint (figuratively speaking).

After much wrangling and arguing over Constitutional issues centering around Washington D.C.'s status as a federal district rather than a state, the bill passed 241-177.  These Constitutional arguements have some measure of validity.  It is possible that the bill may end up in the Judicial system should it be passed by the Senate and signed by the President.  Its passage in the Senate is uncertain, and already Republican leader Mitch McConnell has stated that he will use the filibuster to block its passage in the Senate.  President Bush meanwhile has stated that if the bill arrives on his desk he will Veto it (along with nearly a dozen other pending bills). 

It appears that Republicans are more concerned with promoting democracy abroad than in correcting the shameful disenfranchisement of over a half a million U.S. Citizens in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol Building.  I think that this bill is a step in the right direction; however, in my view it does not go far enough, and creates a "separate but equal" status for Washington D.C. residents. I maintain that citizens in the District of Columbia should have full voting Representation in Congress with two Senators and Representation in the House. 

The Constitutional implications are complicated, and in my view, its a matter of interpretation by Constitutional scholars.   The validity of a bill passed by the Congress to provide D.C. a voting House member will be debated by these scholars, but in the end it's about correcting an injustice.  Taxation of residents in the District of Columbia has been established by essentially considering Washington D.C. as a "state".  The Constitution states that members of the House of Representatives are to "be chosen by the people of the several states".  If language alone is the determining factor for Constitutional arguments against giving Washington D.C. a vote in the House, then one could argue that Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania or Virginia should not be considered "states" since they are actually Commonwealth's. 

Some have suggested that this issue could be solved by retroceding Washington D.C. back to Maryland, just as the Virginia side was retroceded back to Virginia in 1846 with the approval from Congress and the Virginia General Assembly. There is a large problem with such a measure. It is not supported by the citizens of the District of Columbia who want a status equal to statehood, in addition to the required approval from the Maryland legislature for such a retrocession. 

If a Constitutional Amendment is needed to provide the citizens of Washington D.C. two Senators and a House member, then I believe that the House and Senate should act and propose such an Amendment.  I am convinced that the American public would support an amendment to provide the half a million citizens of Washington D.C. full representation, eliminating any Constitutional conflict. 

The solution will need to be decided by the residents of the District of Columbia.  If they want statehood or status equivalant to statehood, they will need to call on their fellow Americans to support their efforts.  I believe that America would respond to the call from D.C. Residents, and would support any Constitutional Amendment to provide them with full representation.  If Congress is serious about correcting this injustice, then they should step up in support of full representation for all 582,000 U.S. Citizens living in the Capital City.