Archive for the 'Russ Feingold' Category

Senate Judiciary Hearing on Voting Rights Tomorrow

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007

I’m swamped today, so I’m just lifting this right off of DCist.com as there is no need to re-invent the wheel….thanks guys :)

After passing the House and getting a hearing in the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee last week, The D.C. Voting Rights Act moves to the Senate Judiciary Committee tomorrow. The committee has scheduled a full hearing on Wednesday called “Ending Taxation Without Representation: The Constitutionality of S.1257,” which will address, natch, the constitutionality of the bill. Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, is a supporter of the bill and will preside over the hearing.

Tomorrow’s hearing is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. in room 226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building – which means if you’re willing to take a late lunch, you could be there to lend your support for the legislation that would grant a full voting member in the House to the District of Columbia, and an additional member for Utah. There’s a long list of witnesses set to testify: Rep. Chris Cannon (R-UT), D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, Mark Shurtleff, Attorney General of the State of Utah, Richard Bress, an attorney at Latham & Watkins, John Elwood, Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel for DOJ, Charles J. Ogletree, Harvard Law School professor, Kenneth R. Thomas from Congressional Research Service, Jonathan Turley, George Washington University Law School professor, and Patricia Wald, a Former Chief Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.

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Vote in the House Tomorrow

Wednesday, April 18th, 2007

The DC Voting Rights Act is going back to the floor tomorrow. There’s going to be a new rule to stop the hijacking with the motion to recommit with instructions. It should pass tomorrow and then we’ll be on to the Senate.

Speaking of the Senate, I ran into Senator Tester (D-MT) at a YearlyKos fundraiser and he said he’s be a supporter of the bill in the Senate. I also got the ear of Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI)  at the event, and he is going to be a supporter as well….as he always has been.

Here is a article from CQ about tomorrow’s vote:

CQ TODAY
April 18, 2007 – 1:16 p.m.
D.C. Voting Bill To Be Considered Separately From Revenue Provision
By Richard Rubin and Michael Teitelbaum, CQ Staff

Democrats are maneuvering to avoid a repeat of the procedural tactic that stalled the District of Columbia voting representation bill last month.

This time around, the bill that would provide House representation for the District and an additional seat for Utah (HR 1905) will be separated from the revenue-raising provision (HR 1906) designed to cover the costs of expanding the House to 437 members and creating the two new seats.

The House Rules Committee was to meet Tuesday to discuss rules for both bills, which are slated for consideration on the House floor Thursday.

It was unclear exactly how the two-bill approach would avoid what occurred on March 22 when Rep. Lamar Smith , R-Texas, offered a motion that would have added language to severely curtail the District’s restrictive gun ban. The bills could be combined as they leave the House to comply with pay-as-you-go rules.

Smith’s motion was considered germane because a tax change in the original bill broadened the scope of the legislation. Rather than risk an embarrassing or politically controversial vote, Democrats then pulled the bill from the floor.

The new tax bill unveiled Thursday, sponsored by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton , D-D.C., mirrors the revenue increase from the previous bill (HR 1433). It raises the required estimated tax payments for taxpayers earning more than $5 million annually. According to a preliminary estimate, the bill would generate $14 million over 10 years.

The new D.C. bill would not include any revenue increases.

Source: CQ Today
Round-the-clock coverage of news from Capitol Hill.
© 2007 Congressional Quarterly Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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