- Jan 30, 2001
- 15,395
- 78
- 91
Congressional leaders shelve D.C. voting rights bill
The latest scheme to grant voting rights to a Congressperson from Washington DC has been shelved for now, which is a good thing in my opinion. I say that not because I believe that the residents of DC do not deserve representation but because this was not the way to do it and would likely not have survived a court fight. The way I see it there are 3 ways that DC could be given representation that would not involve evading the US Constitution.
1. Make it a state.
2. Amend the Constitution to provide a voting representative in the House.
3. Retrocession to Maryland of all non Federal property.
I doubt #1 will ever happen and that #2 would be very difficult to get ratified. For me that leaves #3 as the best path to fix this issue. It would be the most logical and least disruptive way to solve the problem and the only objections I see come from DC politicians that would become small fish in the Maryland pond. I am certain a deal could be worked out with Maryland and retrocession could be accomplished by legislation that would not involve the hurdles that Statehood or a Constitutional amendment require. It would not change the balance of power among the states in any significant way and would finally fix a national embarrassment. It is time the Democrats put aside their dreams of gaining 2 addtional Senators by having DC become a state, for the Republicans to accept that Maryland would gain an additional Democratic Congessional Representative and for both parties to do the right thing and solve this issue in a way that neither loses anything and they both finally solve the issue in a way that benefits the true victims of this constant back and forth: the residents of the District of Columbia.
The latest scheme to grant voting rights to a Congressperson from Washington DC has been shelved for now, which is a good thing in my opinion. I say that not because I believe that the residents of DC do not deserve representation but because this was not the way to do it and would likely not have survived a court fight. The way I see it there are 3 ways that DC could be given representation that would not involve evading the US Constitution.
1. Make it a state.
2. Amend the Constitution to provide a voting representative in the House.
3. Retrocession to Maryland of all non Federal property.
I doubt #1 will ever happen and that #2 would be very difficult to get ratified. For me that leaves #3 as the best path to fix this issue. It would be the most logical and least disruptive way to solve the problem and the only objections I see come from DC politicians that would become small fish in the Maryland pond. I am certain a deal could be worked out with Maryland and retrocession could be accomplished by legislation that would not involve the hurdles that Statehood or a Constitutional amendment require. It would not change the balance of power among the states in any significant way and would finally fix a national embarrassment. It is time the Democrats put aside their dreams of gaining 2 addtional Senators by having DC become a state, for the Republicans to accept that Maryland would gain an additional Democratic Congessional Representative and for both parties to do the right thing and solve this issue in a way that neither loses anything and they both finally solve the issue in a way that benefits the true victims of this constant back and forth: the residents of the District of Columbia.
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