September 19, 2007
D.C. Voting Rights Bill Defeated
UPDATED.
A death knell sounded for the D.C. voting rights bill yesterday in the Senate, when the cloture motion that would have moved the bill forward failed to pass by three votes.
The bill is unlikely to come up for a vote again this year or next year. Yesterday marked the first time that D.C. voting rights had been considered by the full Senate since 1978, when a constitutional amendment was passed only to be defeated seven years later when just 16 states approved its ratification.
Another shot at an amendment may be the next step for voting rights advocates. Virginia Sen. John Warner, who voted against yesterday's measure, said he did so because he is drafting a new amendment that would overcome objections from the current legislation's detractors -- including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and the White House -- who claim D.C. residents aren't entitled to vote because the Constitution specifies that "People of the several States" should elect House members, and the District is not technically a state.
As for the freshly killed bill, floor debate lasted only a few minutes before the vote. (DCist liveblogged the quick proceedings.) All the Democrats and independents voted for the bill except for two: Robert Byrd, who was not present for the vote, and Montana's Max Baucus, who said in a subsequent statement that he voted against the bill so that his state's lone House vote wouldn't become "less influential."
Eight Republican senators crossed party lines to vote in favor of the measure. D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) sent out a statement praising them, singling out Utah Republican Orrin Hatch as a particularly vocal "hero" of the day.
"No one who knows the lopsided, don't-do-it-or-die pressure suffered by four Republicans who had said they would vote 'yes' can doubt that we are too close to victory to quit now," she said. In his own statement in response to the vote, McConnell reiterated his contention that the bill "is clearly and unambiguously unconstitutional."
Despite the defeat, Norton sounded a note of resolve: "Too many have done too much to throw in the towel, with one year of this session of Congress still to go and a critical election year ahead in 2008 to work with."
