House Dems secure win on D.C. voting rights bill

Democrats won an easy victory yesterday when the House passed legislation that would give residents of the District of Columbia a voting member of Congress and add a seat for Utah.

The bill, which would increase the size of the House, passed largely along party lines, 241 to 177. Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) voted present and 22 Republicans voted with the majority.

{mosads}Democratic Reps. Nancy Boyda (Kan.), Chris Carney (Pa.), Paul Kanjorski (Pa.), Gene Taylor (Miss.), Tim Holden (Pa.) and Dan Boren (Okla.) bucked leadership and voted against the legislation.

The bill grants D.C. a voting member of the House and provides an at-large seat for Utah, which missed gaining a seat after the 2000 census.

A second piece of legislation, which was tied to the first bill, pays for the additional seats. That provision fulfills the Democrats’ promise to adhere to pay-as-you-go budget requirements. It passed 216-203, with 14 Democrats voting against the legislation.

The legislation amends the Internal Revenue Code to adjust the estimated tax payment safe harbor for individuals with adjusted gross income greater than $5 million. By slightly raising the required estimated tax, the measure would bring in $14 million through fiscal 2017.

Upon passage of both bills, the payment provision was rolled into the first bill to be sent to the Senate, where its fate is far less certain.

D.C. Shadow Representative Michael Panetta was optimistic yesterday that the Senate would pass the bill. He said several senators have promised their support.

But even if the upper chamber passes the legislation, the White House indicated that President Bush would veto it. In a statement of administration policy in March, the White House said that Bush’s advisers “would recommend” a veto.

Yesterday’s smooth sailing starkly contrasts with Democratic efforts last month, which were stalled when GOP members successfully derailed the bill by offering a motion to recommit that would ease D.C.’s gun laws.

Predicting that some of their Democratic colleagues would vote for the motion to recommit, which would essentially kill the bill, Democratic leadership quickly pulled the bill from the floor.

Del. Eleanor Holmes-Norton (D-D.C.), a sponsor of the legislation, became quite impassioned on the House floor yesterday.

“We’re entitled to have the same jurisdiction over our own laws that you have,” Norton said, pointing to her GOP colleagues. “Leaders of this House saved the reputation of this House around the world” when they pulled the bill from the floor last month, she added.

The Rules Committee revisited the legislation on Wednesday and split the bill in two: One bill would increase the size of the House, while the other would pay for it.

The Rules Committee agreed that the bills would operate under a closed rule, which does not allow for amendments; that all points of order would be waived against the legislation; and that only one motion to recommit would be allowed for each bill. Many GOP members opposed the rules.

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) filed a motion to recommit to require an expedited judicial review for the legislation, which many GOP members say is unconstitutional. The motion failed.

 Upon passage of the legislation, Norton was smiling brightly and clasping colleagues’ hands. Norton, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), a sponsor of the bill, and other members held a press conference yesterday afternoon.

Pelosi lauded the bill on the House floor.

“Every single day that this Congress is in session, we take a pledge to the flag and to the republic for which it stands,” Pelosi said. “At the end, we say, ‘With liberty and justice for all.’ That ‘for all’ must include the people of the District of Columbia.”