A measure to give the District of Columbia voting representation in the House of Representatives was introduced in both the House and Senate Tuesday.
The bill would, for the first time, award the District's member in the House, currently Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., the right to vote on legislation. It would also create a new House seat for Utah, where the growing population nearly warranted a new seat during the last census.
A similar measure that was supported by Barack Obama, then a senator from Illinois, failed last year but Norton issued a statement Tuesday saying that, "with a new Congress and a new President - who was a cosponsor of this bill himself last year - I am hopeful we can pass this legislation vital to the rights of the nearly 600,000 Americans living in the District of Columbia."
Although D.C. residents pay federal taxes, serve in the U.S. military and number more than residents of Wyoming, they have no voting representation in the House or Senate.
But if the measure passes, it could be deemed a violation of the Constitution. Article 1, Section 2 of the Constitution says the House "shall be composed of members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States." The District of Columbia is not a state.
