Dems Pull the Plug on D.C. Vote Bill

After coming closer than at any time in more than 200 years to giving residents of the District of Columbia full representation in Congress, House Democrats have pulled the plug and given up trying to pass the bill this year.

House Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer said he was "profoundly disappointed" that the 600,000 residents of the nation's capitol will remain without a voting representative in Congress, but said they will have to give up their effort to pass the measure.

And the reason, oddly enough, traces back to the NRA.

A compromise was reached last year to give Washington residents a vote in Congress by also providing another congressional seat for Utah. Utah came very close in the last census to picking up another representative and its population has continued to grow. So by expanding the House by two seats, one for D.C. and one for Utah, the partisan balance between Democrats and Republicans could be maintained. President Obama backed the measure and it looked like it would become law.

But after lobbying by the NRA, the Senate attached an amendment to the bill that would wipe out virtually all of the city's gun laws, some of the toughest in the country.

They were made less so by a ruling from the Supreme Court, but are still pretty strict.

The House was preparing to vote on the measure this week, but Democratic leaders knew they did not have the votes to take out the gun provision.

So the District of Columbia was faced with a choice - get the voting rights that had been denied them since the city was first created or keep their gun laws.

Hoyer says the District's non-voting representative in Congress, Eleanor Holmes Norton, who had tried to years to get a vote, made the decision that the price was too high and so for this year at least the effort for D.C. voting rights is over.

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Bob Fuss is CBS Radio News' Capitol Hill Correspondent

[larry0304]

Just another attempt by the left to keep the bad guys armed and to keep the average law abiding citizen from the right to choose to protect himself and his family. Ask the 89 year old grandma from Iowa who defended herself from a crook about the right to have a gun. Of course most of the liberal elite either have bodyguards to protect them or live in crime free areas so it's no wonder they want the rest of us to feel helpless. God bless the NRA!

[boogieman716]

they need to give them voteing rights or stop taxing them .
the The Constitution also says that the states will be taxed not not districts . and if it is unconstitutional for them to voting representation in Congress.
then its also unconstitutional to tax D C residents .

[ThomasJeffersonLives]

There are no more moderate Democrats, just a bunch of socialists - slimy sweet, bleeding heart power hungry Marxists - who really don't care about YOU but about the power they can gain from YOU. THINK ABOUT IT.

[ckend]

Washington D C is only a city. The constitution only gives voting rights to representatives of States. Any bill that gives voting rights to representatives from Washington D C is in direct violation of the Constitution. we either adhere to the Constitution or have anarchy.

[stormerF2]

What are they afraid of it has been proven more guns less crime.Can anyone show me where a gun law has reduced crime?

[afmcalax]

That is the problem with an organization that has only a singular purpose for existing and nobody in politics has the backbone to take on. I would love to see a thorough Congressional hearing on the NRA and their real relationship with the gun manufacturers of the world. I will guarantee that they get more support to front for the gun makers than they get supposedly representing gun owners. Their fear tactics over the last 2 years have made nobody more safe, but has increased gun maker profits enormously. They created a lie and their gun nuts went on a buying spree.

There was trouble with the compromise, though. Although DC was guaranteed a representative for ever, eventually the House seat in Utah could be moved to snother state based on the census. Eventually the Democrat/Republican compromise could have resulted in 2 Democratic seats being created.

[ckend]

How can D C be given a voting representative? The Constitution only gives voting rights to representatives from States. Last I knew, Washington D C is not a State. It has not been admitted to the Union as a State. Members of Congress, most haven't the slightest idea of what the Constitution says or means, cannot give D C Reps voting rights, I don't care what they think!

[omega42]

So the gun nuts in DC that the NRA was trying to help have now lost their representation on taxes and spending as well, oh the irony!!

[IL-Independent]

The fact is those nuts are only wanting what the constitution gives them. You may want to read it

[omega42]

Apparently you didn't read the article, the laws have been reviewed by the Supreme Court and most of them were left standing. We all know the NRA thinks everyone should be allowed to posses a small nuclear device (a few hundred kilotons at most) for huntin' and keeping the queen of England out of your face but that must be balanced by societies ability to govern.