AU students and professors have mixed reviews on the future of District congressional voting rights after Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., and other non-state representatives in the House of Representatives Thursday regained a voting right they lost in 1995. Norton is still working on a bill that would give non-state representatives full voting rights.
The House restored the ability of non-state representatives to vote on amendments to bills on the House floor in a 226 to 191 vote that showed a party-line split with Democrats favoring the measure and Republicans opposing it.
John Ciprani, a sophomore in both the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Public Affairs and the outreach director for College Democrats, said he welcomed Norton's restored ability.
"I find it unconstitutional that D.C. representation in Congress does not have full voting rights within the House of Representatives," Ciprani said. "Change is never immediate in American politics, so to see some gains made by the many who live in D.C. is encouraging and perhaps telling of the new Democratic Congress' progressive policy."
Norton, who first attained the right to vote on floor amendments in 1993, is now working with Rep. Thomas M. Davis III, R-Va., to reintroduce H.R. 328, the District of Columbia Fair and Equal House Voting Rights Act. If implemented, the legislation would grant the District a House seat with full voting rights and increase Utah's representation by one seat, a bipartisan balance between an overwhelmingly Democratic city and heavily Republican state.
Maryann Barakso, an assistant professor in the SPA, said in an e-mail that H.R. 328 will most likely pass.
"The bill has a good chance of passage because the Utah seat would clearly be won by a Republican, thus keeping the partisan balance in Congress," Barakso said. "It is important to remember that this does not give D.C. statehood and has no bearing on representation on the Senate."
Steven Taylor, an associate professor in the School of Public Affairs, said he thinks the recent House rules change will have no impact on H.R. 328.
"The votes of Del. Norton and the four other delegates will not be counted if they provide the margin of victory on a bill, which makes the rules change somewhat ceremonial," Taylor said. "Consequently, this rules change will not affect the outcome of H.R. 328, which would give the District of Columbia a representative in the House, rather than a non-voting delegate."
Norton met with Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., on Jan. 26 and discussed Norton's desire to have H.R. 328 come to a floor vote in March, according to a press release.
"I know I speak for the people of my city when I say how deeply we have appreciated the unfailing Democratic support for our rights from party platforms and presidential leadership to congressional bills and assistance here of all kinds," Norton said.
Seth Johnson, a senior in the SPA, the secretary of AU's College Republicans and a former editorial page editor of The Eagle, said he was critical of Norton's and other non-state representatives' restored ability.
"I understand that the District and territories want voting rights in the full House and not just committee," Johnson said. "The way this was done could hurt the progress Norton and Rep. Tom Davis have made in potentially getting the District a full House seat. I think it was done more to bolster the number of Democrat floor votes than out of any heartfelt principle."
The House rules change also affected Democrats Donna M. Christensen of the United States Virgin Islands, Madeleine Z. Bordallo of Guam, Eni F.H. Faleomavaega of American Samoa, and Republican Luis Fortu¤o of Puerto Rico.
