HR 1905: the sequel
On Tuesday Senators Orrin Hatch, Bob Bennett, and Joe Lieberman introduced a DC voting rights bill on their half of the Hill. Notably, the sponsoring team consists of two Republicans and an Independent candidate, representative of a non-partisan issue. Given, the two Republicans are both Utah Senators who stand to help their home state through the bill, and the other is an ex-Dem. But we digress. The polls show broad public support for DC voting rights, and this bill reflects that.
One of the improvements on the House’s bill is to allow Utah to redistrict itself for an additional representative, an important development which eliminates one criticism of HR 1905: that giving the entire state a vote for an at-large seat is unconstitutional because it gives each citizen of Utah two representatives. The opportunity to fine-tune this bill is huge for the proposal, and the Senate leadership on this issue seems to be taking it on seriously. That bodes well for the final look of the bill, it’s passage and the repercussions of a presidential veto — which was threatened by White House advisors, not by the president.