Norton Celebrates Sweet Send-Off of D.C. Voting Rights Bill (3/15/07)
Washington, DC-The District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act of 2007(H.R. 1433) today traveled successfully through the Judiciary Committee onanother huge vote of 21-13, with the bill expected on the floor by the end ofnext week. The lopsided vote surprised many because the JudiciaryCommittee has long been the most polarized committee in the House. "I am grateful that Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) wasted no time inscheduling today's markup," Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton said. "The strong, Judiciary Committee vote in his committee is a terrificsend-off to the House floor by the new chairman, coming on the heels of thelopsided 24-5 approval by the Oversight and Government Reform (OGR)Committee."
As expected, Republicans expressedtheir opposition by offering numerous amendments designed to slow or gut thebill, but all were defeated. Norton said, "I am especially gratefulto Chairman Conyers, who has helped lead all the attempts for the rights ofDistrict citizens in the House throughout his political career, including theHome Rule Act. There is perfect justice today that Rep. Conyers hasbecome chairman in time to lead the primary committee of jurisdiction to thishistoric day." From the beginning of the bill's consideration, theCongresswoman said, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been the powerful engine behindthe scenes that kept the bill moving as a priority to the House floor with thefirst set of bills passed in the 110th Congress before the Aprilrecess. Norton also thanked Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) for continuouslyand steadfastly using his leadership position from the moment the 110thCongress convened to press the bill forward for full House consideration. Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), whom Norton has worked with for more than four years onthe bill, was in a class by himself for creatively spotting the Utah-DCpossibility and persisting until it worked," Norton said. The billnot only presented challenges for Davisamong his Republican colleagues, but also for Norton who encountered someunforeseen circumstances that made the bill initially difficult for Democratsfor whom D.C. voting rights has long been a priority.