D.C. Voting Rights-A Morally and Politically Worthy Cause

How often in politics do moral clarity and political considerations peacefully co-exist?  Legislation to be considered this week by my Government Reform Committee does exactly that.  The legislation corrects an historic wrong by finally granting the citizens of the Nation’s Capital a voting voice in Congress.  By expanding the membership of the House to 437, the legislation creates room to give the District of Columbia a voting seat in the U.S. House — and balances that out with an additional seat for the state next in line for representation (which happens to be Utah). 

That political balance — Democratic D.C. and Republican Utah — is key, and consistent with the balance (slave states and free state; Alaska and Hawaii) used throughout our history.  The legislation is also consistent with Congress’s plenary power over D.C., as described in legal analyses done for our Committee by Ken Starr, Viet Dinh, and others.