DC voting rights bill fails.
By on Sep 18th, 2007 at 4:16 pm
DC voting rights bill fails.
Today, a majority of the Senate voted 57 to 42 to give DC congressional representation. But it failed to get the 60 votes needed to overcome Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) filibuster. Full roll call HERE.
UPDATE: “The fat lady has not sung yet, this war is not over,” said DC Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) in reaction to today’s vote.
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No taxation without representation my ass!
September 18th, 2007 at 4:17 pmSubmit it again!
Whatever happened to the upperdownvote?
September 18th, 2007 at 4:18 pmSomeone drive Mitch to Southeast and have him explain his fillibuster to the citizens there himself.
September 18th, 2007 at 4:20 pmHmmm, seeing that a vast majority of DC residence are African-American, ol' Mitch did his Republican deed for the day by blocking their right to contribute to their city's leadership.
Harumph Harumph, Republicans! Harumph Harumph!
Can the GOP become more of a Mel Brooks movie cliche??
September 18th, 2007 at 4:21 pmWhen in the course of human events...
September 18th, 2007 at 4:21 pmCan't these Democrats get any thing done?
September 18th, 2007 at 4:22 pmRepublicans don't want to give DC representation because it has a large minority population. They'd do the same to New Orleans if they could.
September 18th, 2007 at 4:22 pmNotice that 41 of the 42 Nays were Republicans ? Why do the Republicans not want the people in DC (who provide all those services to them while they are in DC) represented ??? Why do the Republicans filibuster ?
September 18th, 2007 at 4:23 pm"The blacks didn't didn't turn out for the Bushies like the Hispanics did. See if they get any help from the Bushies."
September 18th, 2007 at 4:24 pmWho was the odd man out on the "nays"?
September 18th, 2007 at 4:26 pmLet me guess... Lieberman?
what a waste of time and space a two party system is
September 18th, 2007 at 4:26 pmCan’t these Democrats get any thing done?
Comment by Spankytheyankee
Hey Spanky! They sure will get A LOT done come 2008 when they take many more Congressional seats AND that little abode called The White House!
People are sick of conservative leadership - sick of the degredation, sick of the lying, sick of the profiteering, sick PERIOD!
September 18th, 2007 at 4:28 pmI see it was Baucus of Montana, the lone Democrat voting nay...
September 18th, 2007 at 4:29 pmApologies, Joe...
Ive never seen such a bullshit democracy what a waste of time the whole lot a bad joke
BUSH HAS DIVIDED AMERICA INTO BLUE AND RED
September 18th, 2007 at 4:29 pmYeah its time to give Dems the power so they can become fully corrupted eventually.
September 18th, 2007 at 4:30 pmGood! Now maybe people in DC will stop whining. The Republicans aren't stupid; they'll never give DC two Senators and a Rep, since they'd obviously be Democrats. The solution is for people in DC to stop trying to be a state and to move to turn the District over to Maryland, as the part of it that is now Arlington was turned over to Virginia. Then DC residents -- or rather, Washington, Maryland -- residents could vote.
September 18th, 2007 at 4:31 pmdumb and dumber in the whitehouse again
September 18th, 2007 at 4:33 pmThe only reason McConnel filibustered it is because the republicans know that DC will likely vote democrat in most national elections, and they don't want to give them the electorate.
September 18th, 2007 at 4:37 pmMitch is a Queen
September 18th, 2007 at 4:40 pmIts amazing that in this day and age, an entire region of our own country continues WITHOUT REPRESENTAION in congress.
Here we're trying to create Democracy in Iraq, and we can't even create it in our own nations capital.
September 18th, 2007 at 4:41 pmBut ohhh, lilly white kingpins like McConnell don't want to give all those poor black folk representation in the picking of a president. Nosir.
Deny the black people the right to representation. Theres your republican neonazi right winger for you.
September 18th, 2007 at 4:42 pmSenator "No Lips Mitch" had a wonderful day today as one of only 4 U S Senators to be named to CREW"S list of the "22 Most Corrupt Politicians in Congress" today! Mr. Potato-head along with both Senators from Alaska,and the gay Senator from Arizona, no not Mc Cain, Pete whats his name, made the cut!
September 18th, 2007 at 4:43 pmLater on in the day "No Lips" led 41 other Republican Senators to vote "NO", on whether or not to allow the citizens of D C, Congressional Representation!
I'll bet Kentucky is real proud of their Senor Senator today!
Wasn't Mitch McConnell one of the main people pushing the "up or down vote" talking point in the last Congress? Do you think Republicans are self-conscious about their hypocrisy? Remember this from his spokesman in '05? “Senator McConnell always has and continues to fully support the use of what has become known as the ‘[nuclear]’ option in order to restore the norms and traditions of the Senate.†(http://thinkprogress.org/2007/07/17/filibuster-conservatives/) -- don't you almost wish the Dems had just let him have his way back then?
September 18th, 2007 at 4:43 pmTraven gets it pretty close, in my mind.
No, currently, since D.C. is not a state, it does not get representation in the Congress. Period.
In fact, the only way they got to be able to vote for President is because of a constitutional amendment.
A better bill would be one that would consider residents of D.C, for the purpose of representation in Congress, to be residents of the state from which the district was derived. So all D.C. residents would be able to vote in Maryland elections. I'm still not sure this would pass constitutional muster, but it would not be as baltantly unconstitutional as the current scheme.
later,
September 18th, 2007 at 4:46 pm#24: baltantly should be blatantly, sorry.
And by current scheme, I meant the bill that was just filibustered.
later,
September 18th, 2007 at 4:48 pmForTruth has been namejacked by Mr. P
September 18th, 2007 at 4:48 pmSo, exactly why do Mitch McConnell and the right not want DC to have the vote? Could it be because it is a heavily black populated area? Nah...that couldn't be it.
September 18th, 2007 at 4:48 pmCan’t these Democrats get any thing done?
Comment by Spankytheyankee
Not as long as the Republics continue to use the filibuster to stop them from accomplishing anything. You know, the Republics who threatened the "nuclear option" when the Democrats said they would use the filibuster to stop conservative judges from being nominated.
Whatever happened to that "up or down vote".
Republics - hypocrites one and all.
September 18th, 2007 at 4:50 pmLoL. Want to take bets on how ol' Mitch would have gone if DC was predominantly white and/or conservative?
September 18th, 2007 at 4:50 pmYeah its time to give Dems the power so they can become fully corrupted eventually.
Comment by ForTruth — September 18, 2007 @ 4:30 pm
Sadly, that will probably happen. The only mitigating factor might be that the Democrats aren't as efficient as Republicans, and therefore won't be quite as attractive to corrupting elements.
September 18th, 2007 at 4:51 pmI do applaud Dems not even MENTIONING the so-called "nuclear option" but I do almost wish they'd threaten it. Not that it would matter, I suppose, since Bush would veto and if you can't kill a fillibuster you can't override a veto, for sure.
September 18th, 2007 at 4:51 pmThey’d do the same to New Orleans if they could.
Comment by Snidely Whiplash — September 18, 2007 @ 4:22 pm
ONe small correction, Snidely.
"They DID the same in New Orleans WHEN they could."
S'okay?
September 18th, 2007 at 4:53 pmand therefore won’t be quite as attractive to corrupting elements.
Comment by trollbuster — September 18, 2007 @ 4:51 pm
Go look at the "Most Corrupt" thread below this one.
22 Repubs v 4 Dems...
September 18th, 2007 at 4:54 pmNo, currently, since D.C. is not a state, it does not get representation in the Congress. Period.
Comment by Cicero — September 18, 2007 @ 4:46 pm
Horsesh$t.
If we can make an Island in the south pacific a state, we can sure as hell make a hunk of land right smack dab in the middle of our country one.
What a load.
September 18th, 2007 at 4:54 pmWe WRITE the laws here Flavius.
McConnell just blocked the law from being made.
September 18th, 2007 at 4:56 pmRepublicans believe in giving the Iraqis a right to vote but not the same rights to Americans living in DC.
Scumbags.
-GSD
September 18th, 2007 at 4:56 pmWhat I would love to see is all the people working in DC refuse to pay taxes until such time as they receive representation.
After all, they are being taxed but not allowed representation.
September 18th, 2007 at 4:56 pmFor Truth, trollbuster, et al...
Dem corruption is barely noticable next to GOP corruption. I used to be in the "they're all corrupt" camp until I saw W work his magic! I live in NC where our former (democratic) governor swindled the state out of tons of money and Dems have controlled state Senate and House for like over a hundred years. And now that he was discovered (finally) he's getting what he deserves! The local Dems in power shunned him and passed bills to prevent the sort of things he did (barely legal and some very illegal) from happening again. Sucks he was a Democrat when we need to be squeeky clean right now, and yes the local repubs had a field day, but when all is said and done, it worked out. Justice was served, so to speak. Do you think W will ever serve a day in prison for what he did in Texas and what he's doing now? Hells no. I'll take the occasional corrupt DINO jerk to what Newt, Rudy, and W give us ANY DAY OF THE WEEK! Why? Cuz the DINO will get served! Repubs protect their rich corrupt friends. Well, unless they're gay. Then they deny they ever knew him. :-)
September 18th, 2007 at 4:57 pmNO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION.
Thats what we teach the kids in DC schools, who go home to parents who are paying taxes without representation.
And to a republican, this is ok.
September 18th, 2007 at 4:58 pmSo, who was the Democrat that voted with the Republicans?
September 18th, 2007 at 5:00 pmAm I banned?
September 18th, 2007 at 5:19 pmTesting to see if new system works.
September 18th, 2007 at 5:21 pm(Using my new login)
#34
"If we can make an Island in the south pacific a state, we can sure as hell make a hunk of land right smack dab in the middle of our country one.
What a load."
But IIRC, that's not what's being proposed here. A bill that would make D.C. a state would be constitutional, but this bill (if its the one I'm thinking of) does not. I would still oppose statehood for D.C., but the passage of that bill would pass constitutional muster. This bill does not.
#35
"We WRITE the laws here Flavius.
McConnell just blocked the law from being made."
Well, those are the rules of the Senate, which are voted on and passed every time a new Senate convienes. If you don't like it, lobby your Senators to change it. Have them invoke the "nuclear option"
Later,
September 18th, 2007 at 5:26 pmCongress would love to have taxes eliminated in DC. After all, where do they live? Best of two worlds, vote in the home state, and not pay taxes anywhere.
September 18th, 2007 at 5:29 pmThe US Constitutionexpressly forbids a non-state such as D.C. from having a congressional seat.
Those congressional representatives that are voting FOR this are failing at their jobs--adhering to the Supreme law of the country. If they want to change it, it must go through the Constitutional amendment process. Otherwise, this is another illustration of wasting taxpayers' (our) money!!
September 18th, 2007 at 7:16 pmthey are going to filabuster every single thing this entire session!
September 18th, 2007 at 8:05 pmPut everything into the Iraq funding bill and stick to your guns!
September 18th, 2007 at 8:46 pmEven that useless piece of garbage Lieberman voted in favor of the bill. That's ok, McConnel is going to get booted from the Senate come November 2008. One less in-the-closet homophobe.
September 18th, 2007 at 9:53 pmYes, it was 'no lips Mitch' (funny!) that was always whining about the 'up or down' vote. This is all part of their convoluted 2008 campaign strategery. They think come election season they can accuse the Democrats of a 'do nothing' congress. Have they ever heard of campaign commercials? Their desperation has led them to their insanity. Notice the Democrats are staying silent and not screaming 'obstructionism'? They know the public hates obstructionism. They're allowing themselves to look like wimps now in order to beat the GOP to death with this issue in 2008. I hope it works.
September 18th, 2007 at 10:04 pmdoesn't anyone have the goods on McConnell that would be career ending (a good example would be the Senator from Idaho) so we can shut this little fu*ker up?! and while we're at it, Lindsay Graham too.....
September 18th, 2007 at 10:50 pmI'm sure the GOP'ers are all very, very proud to have successfully kept a lot of black people from being represented in our representative democracy. What's the total on that now?
September 18th, 2007 at 11:23 pmHow does it happen that in 2007 we have enough right-wing-nuts in the Senate to still influence a vote to continue a voter suppression policy that dates back to the days when only white male land owners could vote???!!! I'm calling my lousy Replublican Senator Gordon Smith of Oregon to ask his aides to explain his position to me. Sheez.
http://www.bloggerradio.com/2007/09/us-senator-and-.html
September 19th, 2007 at 11:18 amHow does it happen that in 2007 we have enough right-wing-nuts in the Senate to still influence a vote to continue a voter suppression policy that dates back to the days when only white male land owners could vote???!!!
Comment by BloggerRadio.com — September 19, 2007 @ 11:18 am
White males in DC don't have a voting rep either. The policy concerning representation had nothing to do with race and everything to do with preventing the seat of the federal government from wielding undue influence or being used as a political football. It appears to have been a wise decision given the fact that it's happening anyway.
September 19th, 2007 at 2:34 pm