AirCongress The Online Voice Of Capitol Hill

The House on Thursday passed a bill that would grant the heavily Democratic District of Columbia a voting representative in the chamber. The vote, long sought by nonvoting District Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, was 241-177. The bill also would give Utah, a Republican-leaning state, another seat in the House, increasing its size to 437 members.

Here are video excerpts of the debate, as posted by the office of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.:

Norton
“I appeal to your conscience and ask for your vote so that finally there also will be a vote for your fellow Americans here who have paid for this precious right many times over in blood and in treasure.”

Pelosi
“Today we seek to affirm an enduring principle of our democracy — the right to be heard and represented fully. … This legislation corrects a serious flaw in our democracy.”

Tom Davis, R-Va.
“We [Republicans] exist as a party to increase representation and liberty in this country and in this world. This legislation is in the highest traditions of this party that fought for free speech, fought to abolish slavery and fought to give women a right to vote.”

Michael Arcuri, D-N.Y.
“The fact that approximately 600,000 U.S. citizens live under taxation without representation within the United States today is repugnant to the very notion of democracy. How can the United States deny democracy in its capital while it promotes democracy abroad.”

The fate of the bill in the Senate already is uncertain, however. The Senate parliamentarian ruled today that the chamber’s Finance Committee — rather than the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, whose chairman is a big advocate of voting rights for the capital city — has jurisdiction over the measure.

Categories: Virginia, New York, California, Nancy Pelosi, Law & Judiciary, Michael Arcuri, Government Reform, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Tom Davis, District of Columbia

No Comments »

The value of no-bid contracts has soared under the Bush administration, and Rep. Carolyn Maloney wants to put restrictions on the practice.

Maloney, D-N.Y., cited the 2006 “Dollars, Not Sense” report from the House Government Reform Committee Democrats during yesterday’s floor debate on a bill to increase transparency and accountability in federal contracting, among other things.

“These are contracts that only one person gets,” she said. “It’s as if I handed you a lollipop. It is giving someone billions and billions of dollars, and I believe there are many talented businesses, many talented individuals in this country that should deserve the right to compete for these contracts.”

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said the Bush administration repeatedly makes the same contracting mistakes. “We need reform in this area. … We’ve got to keep people honest,” he said. “And I’m shocked when I hear conservatives say they care about taxpayers’ dollars and then don’t want competition.”

The House passed the measure 347-73. It was part of a package of bills aimed at opening government. The Politico has a video report on the complete package:

Categories: New York, Producer's Picks, Government Reform, Carolyn Maloney

No Comments »