Vote on DC Bill Likely Not Happening in August

The Post reports today, what we found out yesterday before the rally. That the Senate will likely not take up the DC Voting Rights Act before the August recess. Congresswoman Norton assured everyone that this will not affect the chances of passage…but we should still push to get it on the agenda before the break.

DC Shadow Senator Mike Brown had the line of the day:
“No Vacation Without Representation!”

(Photo by Keith Ivey)

According to our friends at DC Vote, Senator Lieberman has announced that the mark-up in the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs will very likely be Wednesday, June 13 at 10:00 AM in 342 Dirksen. This information is subject to change, so check back for updates.

They also ask to keep up pressure on Senator Susan Collins from Maine, as she is seen as a swing vote on the committee. How Collins votes on this bill next week will be very telling on a number of levels.

First, she’s seen as a very “gettable” Republican, so it will be an instant barometer of support from moderate GOP Senators - as will the votes of Warner, Voinovich and Coleman. So, if you know anyone in Maine, please send them to http://www.freeandequaldc.com

Second, it will say a lot about the actual clout Senator Lieberman has on this bill. Lieberman has endorsed Collins for re-election in 2008 over Maine Democratic Congressman Tom Allen (who did vote for the bill in the House and has been a friend to the District). If Lieberman can’t deliver Collin’s vote, then it calls into question what votes he can actually deliver. On this issue, Lieberman is a good friend to have, so let’s hope he can close the deal on some GOP members.

See you at the hearing next week….

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.

Yesterday there was a hearing in Lieberman’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. For anyone who follows this stuff, it was your standard fare. A lot of the same testimony from the same people.

I really liked Norton’s testimony. This is woman was definately not going through the motions. She even brought up the Colbert Report’s joke about her and Tom Davis having an affair. (Here’s the clip from the show.) Jack Kemp was awesome yesterday, and I think he will play a key role in getting the fence sitting Republicans to side with the bill.

I wanted to hear how GOP Senators Collins, Warner, and Coleman were going come down on the bill, but alas that did not happen. I was especially curious about Collins as Lieberman endorsed her and is raising money for her - much to the chagrin of the blogosphere.

Liberman says they’ll be a mark-up sometime after Memorial Day recess. Stay tuned…

(Note: Metroblogging DC is having a contest for a caption for the photo above. More details here.)

The U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs will be holding a hearing on the DC Voting Rights Act on Tuesday May 15th.  The hearing starts at 10:00 in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 342. More information can be found here.

Senator Lieberman, a friend of the District as well as the primary Senate sponsor, will be chairing the hearing.  It should be interesting as we’ll see the level of support the bill has. On the Democrat’s side we have people like Lieberman, Obama, and Landrieu who are co-sponsors. Senator Tester is supportive (or at least that is what he told me when I talked to him at a YearlyKos fundraiser). The other Dems on the committee should line up in support of this bill…so hopefully that will not be a problem.

On the Republican side, there are guys like Senators Stevens and Pete Domineci who will never support this bill . What will be key is to see where moderate GOP Senators Collins, Warner, and Coleman come down on the bill. Also, Trent Lott has told people like Jack Kemp that he’s a supporter…we’ll see at the hearing how much that’s actually true. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Lott could mend a lot of fences if he were to take a leadership role on this bill.

I’m planning on being at the hearing. Hope to see you there.