D.C. and the Constitution [increasing the House of Representatives to 437]

The Wall Street Journal, page A14 ^ | FEBRUARY 25, 2009

[heleny]

D.C. and the Constitution

Will Democrats let the law get in the way of an extra House seat?

The House of Representatives seems set to grow by two Members, to 437, after next year's election. Yesterday the District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act passed a key procedural vote in the Senate, making passage of the legislation, which President Obama supports, all but certain. The only thing standing in the way may be the Constitution.
...

... the plain language of the Constitution, ... provides that House members shall be chosen "by the People of the several States" and stipulates that the District of Columbia is not a state.

... if Congress wishes to grant [DC] full representation, [Congress] should do so by amending, not ignoring, the Constitution.

[ChrisInAR]

Ohhhhhhhh...I thought that was what the Founders meant for the TOTAL size of the District. DUH!!!!!!!

Thanx for the correction.

[Colvin]

I wonder if it wouldn’t be good to expand the number to 600.
I think we would have a better chance of getting congress if we country boys could wrest some control from the cities.

[oldbill]

In principle I agree that American citizens should be represented.

So Puerto Rico, Guam, Virgin Islands, and American Samoa should have congressmen (6 for P.R.) and two Senators each?

[oldbill]

Texas by virtue of the treaty of annexation can split itself in up to 5 separate states. No permission required.

Texas should do just that and get 10 Senators and up to 4 new congressmen by dividing the population right.

[mountainfolk]

Looks like the RATS at the White House will have control of the census so they can manipulate the congressional districts to favor themselves. Now they will have a built in DC democrat Congressional representative as well. And if Utah loses population in their census count their new representative will then be given to a democrat district in another state. This ignoring of the constitution will result in the democrats picking up two newly minted congressional seats. And if this travesty prevails, as sure as night follows day, there will be a push for two senators for DC as well. In the past we kept hearing that such a thing was impossible but that was then and this is the new socialist anti Republic democrat party now in control. They are making the rules as they go along and it appears there is nobody to stop them. Anyway, I would think that now would be the time for the Republicans to put an attachment to this bill which requires voter ID in federal elections. Let us at least give ACORN a few obstacles to overcome.