Providing For Consideration Of H.R. 1905, District Of Columbia House Voting Rights Act Of 2007 And Providing For Consideration Of H.R. 1906, Estimated
Floor Speech
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 1905, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA HOUSE VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 2007 AND PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 1906, ESTIMATED TAX PAYMENT SAFE HARBOR ADJUSTMENT -- (House of Representatives - April 19, 2007)
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Mr. McHENRY. I thank my colleague from Texas (Mr. Sessions) for yielding the time.
Mr. Speaker, today we are engaged in a very serious debate. It is a constitutional debate. Having served on the Government Reform and Oversight Committee, we actually passed this bill. I opposed it in committee on constitutional grounds. I offered amendments to actually fix what I feel are constitutional problems in this legislation, and there are constitutional ways to achieve what my colleague, the Delegate from the District of Columbia, seeks to do.
There are constitutional ways to do that. Just as in the 19th century, the part of the District of Columbia that was part of Virginia was ceded back to the State of Virginia; likewise, the part of the District of Columbia that was Maryland could be ceded back for representation purposes to the State of Maryland. So there are constitutional ways to achieve what the Delegate seeks to achieve.
But the Constitution clearly provides how Congressmen and Senators are allocated, and they are allocated to the States. The District of Columbia was provided for. The District of Columbia is a Federal city and it is not a State.
Presently, D.C. has a Delegate who votes in committee. Actually, under the new Democrat rules, they also vote here on this House floor. I believe that is unconstitutional as well. But what this bill does is allow the District of Columbia to keep that Delegate vote and supplement it with another vote.
Now, what I would submit is that the new Democrat majority is trying to pad their numbers on this House floor. That is why they gave Democrats who are nonvoting Members of this body the ability to vote on the House floor. That is also why, I submit, that this Democrat majority is submitting this bill for approval on this House floor, and keeping not only the Delegate vote, but adding another Democrat vote to this House floor.
I don't oppose it for personal reasons. I oppose this legislation for constitutional reasons, and I would submit to the Delegate from the District of Columbia that we all must make a judgment on the constitutionality of legislation that we see before us on the House floor, and in that way, we must be constitutional scholars and study it.
So, beyond that, let's think about what the Democrats are doing, Mr. Speaker. They are looking for a raw power grab. They not only want to add another seat in Democrat hands to this body, but they want to allow nonvoting delegates the ability to vote on this House floor. I think that is wrong and unconstitutional, and I think the American people need to understand what is happening here. It is a raw power grab by the new Democrat majority.
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