By Gabrielle Russon
The District of Columbia’s push for a congressional representative received a major setback Tuesday after supporters failed to get enough votes to end debate in the Senate.
The D.C. voting rights bill needed 60 votes to overcome a filibuster and go to a vote, but it fell three short.
The bill was designed as a compromise, giving one House seat to the Democratic-leaning D.C and another seat to Utah, which traditionally leans Republican. Washington would not have received a vote in the Senate.
Before the vote, supporters portrayed the idea of representation for Washingtonians as a basic right.
“This is not a partisan issue,” said Jack Kemp, a former Republican congressman from New York, on Monday at a press conference. “This is a civil rights issue.”
He criticized Republicans who voted against the bill, saying, “They should think about what message it is they’re sending to a city with an African-American majority.”
But critics said D.C. isn’t a state, thus it shouldn’t be treated as one and get congressional representation.
“My opposition to this bill rests instead on a single all-important fact. It is clearly and unambiguously unconstitutional,” said Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) during a speech Monday to the Senate. “The framers spelled it out explicitly in the original text.”
Advocates for the bill said the authors of the Constitution never intended to disenfranchise almost 582,000 people living in the district.
“We know the founders had no loopholes when they talked about having voting rights for all residents of this country,” said D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty.
On Monday, supporters tried to push the bill’s momentum by holding a press conference in front of Dirksen Senate Office Building. They brandished signs that read “I demand the vote,” similar to ones that pop up in front yards around the city. But after Tuesday’s vote, the bill – which President Bush had threatened to veto – will not move forward in the Senate, at least for now.
The last time D.C. voting rights legislation reached Congress was 1978.
