The US Senate voted 61-37 Thursday to give the District of Columbia a congressional representative for the first time ever in the history of the United States.
The vote also squashes any concerns about a return of the so-called “Fairness Doctrine”, as the law had an ammendment barring the FCC from reviving the legislation. However, a second amendment to the bill encourages the FCC to investigate “fairness” in radio station ownership.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Congress is “moving to right a centuries-old wrong” before the historic vote. Opponents say the giving the District of Columbia a congressional representative is unconstitutional because it is not a state. The law is expected to be challenged in court.
Article 1, Section 2 of the US Constitution clearly states “members of the House should be chosen “by the people of the several states”. “Only states elect members of Congress;,” said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who opposed the bill. “And according to the same article, the seat of the federal government is not to be considered a state.”
Democrat Party Senator Joe Lieberman and Utah Republican Orrin Hatch, who co-sponsored the bill, played the race card in arguing for its passage when they said not giving the mostly-African-American population of DC congressional representation “is patently unjust and un-American in a sense of the best principles of this country.”
Ilir Zherka, head of the advocacy group DC Vote, called the vote “a historic moment,” adding that momentum for passage of the bill was gaining but “The huge difference this year is that we have an advocate in the White House.”
Orrin Hatch reportedly signed on to the bill after it was guaranteed his state would get an additional congressional representative.
More from TRP
TRP Recommends
- The Longest Suicide Note In History! (WesternFront America)
- Faultline USA: The Longest Suicide Note In History! (faultlineusa)
- Faultline USA: Today Everything Changes in America (faultlineusa)
Related posts:
One word… UNCONSTITUTIONAL! Will this stop them? I hope so but I have little faith anymore.
Any opposition to this from the Republicans has been bought by the amendment that stops the FCC from reviving The Fairness Doctrine.
Money trumps ideology every time.
Simply introducing a bill such as this is unconstitutional! D.C. cannot be “treated as though it were a congressional district,” unless it were formally made a congressional district via a constitutional amendment, which would require a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress as well as three-fourths of the states to ratify it.
This is nothing new, as congressional liberals have been trying to grant full voting rights to the District of Columbia since the 1980s. The maiden attempt to amend the U.S. Constitution through the “D.C. Representation” Amendment, which passed Congress but was rejected by the American people and died on August 22, 1985 after a decisive majority of 34 of the 50 states refused to ratify it, was unsuccessful. Now, Members of Congress are attempting to forgo the constitutional process and slip one past the American people in order to accommodate their political agenda!