For over 200 years, the nation's capital has faced "taxation without representation", an ideal that spurred our founding fathers to seperate from England and create a nation where every citizen has a say in how their tax dollars are spent. DC residents have paid taxes, fought in wars, abided by national laws, and served as the seat of our federal government for over two centuries without having a say in how this government was run.
Finally, after 200+ years, the US House of Representatives might be expanding to include the voices of our capital's residents.
"The turning point in this long battle for enfranchisement may be an unlikely partnership with the people of Utah.
The new Democratic majority is expected to take up a bill in the first months of the new Congress that would increase the voting membership of the House from 435 to 437, giving new vote each to Utah, a Republican stronghold, and the District of Columbia, dominated by Democrats.
The bill is backed by incoming Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democratic Rep. John Conyers, the next chairman of the House Judiciary Committee that will be responsible for moving it.
Prospects are also good in the Senate. Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, who calls himself an independent Democrat, will chair the committee of jurisdiction there. Lieberman is a leading supporter of the measure, and Utah's two Republican senators have endorsed it as well."
It's about damn time!
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