Davis Applauds Judiciary Committee Approval of D.C. Vote Measure

March 15, 2007

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), ranking member on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said he was pleased that his bill to secure voting rights in Congress for the District of Columbia can now move to the House floor for consideration.

H.R. 1433, the District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act of 2007, cleared the final hurdle for floor consideration on Thursday when it passed the House Judiciary Committee by a vote of 21-13. The bill, approved, 24-5, on Tuesday by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, could be taken up on the floor by the end of the month.

"This is a great day for the city of Washington, but it's an even greater day for the country," said Davis, who has sponsored this legislation in two previous Congresses and got it to through the committee process last December, only to see it die in the waning days of the 109th. "Lawmakers have done the right thing. They have voted to enfranchise the citizens of the capital of the free world. I thank all of those who have worked on this bill for the careful thought and study they have given it."

The legislation, which Davis co-sponsored with Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., would give heavily Democratic D.C., which now can vote only when the House meets as the Committee of the Whole, a full vote in the House for the first time since the early 1800s. In the interest of political balance, it also would grant a seat to heavily Republican Utah.

The seat would be elected at large in the 2008 elections and be reconsidered after the 2010 census. Utah came closest of all the states to adding a seat after the 2000 census, and officials there claimed the population was undercounted because it did not consider Mormon missionaries who were out of the state serving on their two-year missions.

The bill picked up a key supporter in the Judiciary Committee when Mike Pence, R-Ind., voted for the measure. Pence, former head of the conservative Republican Study Committee, never had publicly supported the measure before. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, voted for the measure as well. He had supported it Tuesday in the Oversight and Government Reform markup. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., also a member of both committees, voted for the measure in OGR.

"Now is the time to shift our focus," said Davis. "The support from the Democratic side of the aisle virtually assures passage in the House. I hope that those who have not supported the bill can come to see that extending voting rights to residents of Washington, D.C., is the right and savvy thing to do. The people's House should have room for all Americans to be represented."



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