DC Voting Measure Could be Added to Defense Spending Bill

"House Democratic leaders are considering floor action on a proposal to give the District of Columbia a full voting member in the House of Representatives. The provision would be attached to the conference report on the fiscal 2010 Defense appropriations bill, which is expected on the floor within the next few weeks. The Democrats would be reprising a strategy they used Oct. 8 when they attached legislation expanding the definition of federal hate crimes to the conference report on the defense authorization bill. Republicans generally opposed that maneuver and are poised to oppose any other move to grant the nation’s capital full representation in the House. The D.C. voting measure has long been a Democratic priority. A clue to House Democrats’ thinking came Thursday afternoon on the floor during the weekly colloquy about upcoming schedules. Republican Chief Deputy Whip Kevin McCarthy of California asked Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer if rumors were true that the Defense spending bill would include the D.C. vote bill. “I’ve heard discussion,” replied Hoyer, D-Md. “I will continue to fight to find any way to bring that to the floor.” The District’s non-voting House delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton , said the idea originated with Appropriations Committee members. She cautioned, however, that no decision has been made and that she has identified a number of ways that the language could come up for a vote."

From Congressional Quarterly