Norton Casts 1st Committee of the Whole Votes on her Way to Full Vote - 2/8/2007

February 9, 2007

Norton Casts 1^st Eight Votes in the Committee of the Whole on her Way to Full Vote
February 8, 2007

Washington, DC—After more than a decade since the delegate vote was revoked, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today cast her first vote on the House floor in the Committee of the Whole since the Democrats returned the vote to Norton, delegates from the four territories and the resident commissioner from Puerto Rico on January 24, 2007. Norton voted on eight amendments to H.R. 547, the Advanced Fuels Infrastructure Research and Development Act sponsored by Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN), which will help get alternative bio-fuels to consumers more quickly, lower the cost of these fuels and assist retailers in the transition to clean diesel fuels. She is very encouraged by her work with the House leaders on H.R. 328, the District of Columbia Fair and Equal House Voting Rights Act to give D.C. the full House vote, and believes it will not be long before she votes on all matters.

“There were eight great amendments for me to cast my first votes,” Norton said, “in light of the priority I attach to energy conservation, alternative fuels and global warming.”

Norton first won the delegate vote in the 103rd Congress after her first term by writing a memo arguing that the vote in the Committee of the Whole was comparable to delegates voting in traditional committees. Republicans were unsuccessful in challenging this vote in federal district and appellate courts. They revoked delegate voting upon taking power in the 104th session in 1995. Every year since then, even while she fought for full representation in the House and the Senate, Norton has pushed for this partial vote as a temporary step.

The Congresswoman today cast votes on amendments offered by Democrats and Republicans, including a measure by Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) to encourage the Environmental Protection Agency to use land grant institutions, historically black colleges and universities, and other minority institutions to conduct research for the study and development program required in the bill; and an amendment by Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL) to require a report on incentives that may spark cost savings in advanced fuels research and development.