…any of the states whose representation would be diminished by Utah getting an extra seat without apportionment from a census.

Georgia v. United States (for example)

Puts me in mind of a visit to South Africa, among other countries, which physically separates the governmental branches – in that case between Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Bloemfontein.

HUD and the Dept of Education too.

n/t

I don’t care how well-intentioned Congress may be in this matter. They are no one in Congress is responsible to the voters of the District nevermind the fact that they have incredible power over it. This isn’t democratic. I am absolutely mindful of the Constitutional questions here. In this case the Constitution, as written, is sufficiently imperfect that we need to edit it some. 600,000 American citizens are without Congressional representation and they have not had the chance to vote on their status.

Not cool. Not acceptable. But there’s three or four right ways to solve this (Constitutional ways), and a few wrong ways – like this bill.

…whatever the original intent, this is how I look at it. Congresspeople look out for the other people on the cocktail party circuit to whom DC is all about lobbyists and committee hearings and politics and such. But to most people in DC, it is just their hometown same as any other place, and their needs don’t necessarily match up with the “needs” that Congresspeople are looking out for in their representation of the district. Forgetting about Liberal or Conservative, I think people living there ought to have someone in Congress looking out for them specifically.

As for the argument that it’s just a way to put a safe Dem seat in there, I say this: if there is an area that constantly votes Democratic, that doesn’t have representation, that means that Democrats are underrepresented. The fact that the seat would be safe Dem doesn’t change the underlying issue of whether there should be any representation from DC in Congress. By way of an analogy: if for some reason there weren’t any representatives from Utah in Congress, and people tried to rectify it, would the fact that those new Congresspeople would all be R’s really change the fact that Utah ought to have people in Congress? And if this were the situation, wouldn’t it simply mean that R’s are underrepresented, and that should be rectified by giving Utah representation in Congress?

I think this is a dumb solution – I think they should either make DC a state or add a constitutional amendment giving it voting rights in the House. As for the federal district, it’s location is established by statute, and apparently the plan would be to change it to be a narrow strip along the National Mall, encompassing the White House, Congress, and a few other buildings. It might seem odd to have government buildings in another state, but hey, the Pentagon is in Virginia…

But I still like the move as a way to direct attention towards the current situation, and to make a stand that DC oughta have representation.

As Sam Adams said, other companies use only 2.3 oz of hops, we use a full pound! No wait, that’s not it…TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION IS TYRANNY!!!

…how about neither?

Heck, I lived there for one of those votes. If they’re happy with the status quo, well, they can’t claim that they’re being kept down.

…I’d say no.

If they want to be a state, they need to stop voting against statehood.

I always thought that might be one possible approach – either what you suggest, or the simple fact that a citizen could claim harm due to the fact that the value of his/her vote has been diluted, and unconstitutionally so.