Senate Again Fails District Residents

More than 600,000 residents of the District of Columbia have no representation in Congress and the Senate obviously prefers it that way. Had the measure passed, President Bush would have vetoed it anyway, and the lackluster Democrats are powerless to do anything about it.

This is America?

WASHINGTON -- The drive to give the 600,000 residents of the District of Columbia a vote in Congress failed in the Senate today, falling three votes short of the 60 needed to begin debate.

But backers of the bill, which included a representative for largely Democratic D.C. and a new one for largely Republican Utah, pledged to try again, if not in this session than in a new Congress where Democratic gains could spell the difference.

"I feel strongly about D.C. voting rights," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). Noting that there are "a lot of other things crying for attention" in the Senate, he said he chose to bring the issue to the floor because D.C. residents were fighting and dying in Iraq without a voice in Congress.

"This is fairness," Reid said. "It's the right thing to do."

Although the bill passed the House, President Bush had threatened to veto it.

Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) strongly opposed the measure, calling it "clearly and unambiguously unconstitutional" and saying the remedy for disenfranchisement of the district's residents is to amend the Constitution to make D.C. a state.