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District of Columbia when it became the nation's capital two centuries ago would be granted under legislation the Senate passed Thursday. Congress is "moving to right a centuries-old wrong," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid shortly before the 61-37 vote. The House is expected to pass the measure with a strong majority next week and President Barack Obama, a co-sponsor when the bill failed to clear the Senate two years ago, has promised to sign it. The measure is likely to face a court challenge immediately after becoming law; opponents argue that it is unconstitutional because D.C. is not a...

WASHINGTON -- The people of District of Columbia would get the vote in Congress the Founding Fathers denied them under legislation the Senate has approved. The Senate legislation would give the district a vote in the House of Representatives.

Even if Congress gives D.C. a vote in the House, don't expect federal lawmakers to stop meddling in the city's business. Feb. 26, 2009 | WASHINGTON -- Not long before President Obama's inauguration last month, some homemade fliers started popping up on lampposts and traffic lights around town. "Welcome to D.C.!" the posters proclaimed, in red ink, next to stenciled images of people in voting booths. "Wyoming: 522,830 residents. 244,818 voters. Washington, D.C.: 588,292 residents. 399,127 voters. 0 votes in Congress." The stats were a little off; the population estimates came from 2007 Census figures, not the more current 2008...

Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, tried unsuccessfully Wednesday afternoon to kill legislation to give the District full voting rights in Congress. Mr. McCain called for a constitutional point of order to question the legality of giving the District voting rights. The vote failed 36-62. Under the legislation proposed in Congress this year, the Democratic-leaning District would get a House member with full voting rights, and Republican-leaning Utah would get a fourth House seat. Supporters think the bill finally has good chance of being passed, after a decades-long effort, because of Democratic gains in Congress in the November elections and because...

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...

The District of Columbia's two-century-long wait for a voice in Congress was a step closer to ending Tuesday with a crucial Senate vote to take up legislation giving the capital city's 600,000 residents a full seat in the House. The Senate voted 62-34, two more than needed, to begin debate on the measure that would increase the House to 437 members. It would give the Democratic-dominated city a new vote while adding a fourth seat to Republican-leaning Utah. Key to the vote was that Democrats, who overwhelmingly support the bill, have seven more Senate seats than two years ago when...

A measure granting Utah an additional House seat and the District of Columbia its first full-voting member overcame its biggest likely hurdle Tuesday as the U.S. Senate on Tuesday surpassed the 60 needed votes to move the legislation to final passage. The Senate voted 62-34 to debate the bill and move to a final vote later this week, moving past objections from some Republicans that the legislation is unconstitutional. Utah's Republican senators split on the issue. Orrin Hatch backed advancing the measure, while Bob Bennett opposed it. The bill -- primarily aimed at giving D.C.'s overwhelmingly Democratic 600,000 residents their...

Conditions Appear Favorable in Senate, House and White House Supporters of D.C. voting rights believe that they are on the verge of their biggest victory in at least 30 years as the Senate prepares to take up a bill this week creating a full House seat for the District. Two years ago, a similar measure failed to clear a key procedural hurdle in that chamber by three votes. Democrats picked up at least seven Senate seats in the elections last fall, boosting the current bill's chance of passage. They also expanded their majority in the House, where the bill is...

The Congress is about to pass an unconstitutional bill to seat Members of Congress elected by the population of the District of Columbia. I am reasonably sure the Supreme Court will overturn this law.The problem will then arise of what to do with all those RAT voters. The Democrats and RINOs may have enough votes to create a "state of New Columbia" out of the residential districts of DC, either by an Organic Act or by amending the Constitution.The problems with allowing this have been exhaustively discussed here. DC is too small, two automatic and permanent RAT Senators, etc, etc....

One answer is: Six rows of stars -- the top, third and fifth rows with nine, the second, fourth and sixth rows with eight. The question is: How might the nation reconfigure its flag to acknowledge a 51st state. Or ``state.'' The question is pertinent, or would be were Congress inclined to adhere to the Constitution. Both the House and Senate are moving toward pretending, as part of a disgraceful bargain with Utah, that the District of Columbia is a state. The D.C. House Voting Rights Act will give the District a full voting member in the House of Representatives....