In 2007, the 600,000 disenfranchised residents of Washington, DC were just three votes shy of overcoming a Republican filibuster and passing legislation to give them a voting representative in Congress for the first time. On Tuesday, the House took up the fight to strengthen our democracy once again, as Congressman Jerry Nadler chaired the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties hearing on the "District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act of 2009."

    The room was packed with citizens from the District - so many were there that they were ushered to a spillover room down the corridor where proceedings could be viewed on closed-circuit TV. The Mayor of DC, Adrian Fenty, was on hand even though he wasn't a witness, as was Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton.

    There were a slew of witnesses advocating for this bill - as there should be for something so key to our forming a more perfect union - including: Majority Leader Steny Hoyer; former Republican Congressman Tom Davis; president of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, Wade Henderson; US Army Guard Captain and Bronze Star recipient - and native of the District of Columbia - Yolanda Lee; and Viet Dinh, an Assistant Attorney General under that guy who thankfully is back in Crawford. Also entered into the record were letters of support from twenty-five leading constitutional scholars and Judge Kenneth Starr - yes, that Kenneth Starr.

    Hoyer told the subcommittee he intends to bring the bill to the floor for a vote "in the very near term."

    "Out of all the world's democracies," Hoyer said, "Washington DC... is the only capitol in the free world whose citizens do not have a voting member in their Parliament. This bill is about setting that blight right... As our nation's story tells us again and again, a vote means dignity."

    Republican opponents of this bill - all of whom claimed that they support voting representation for District residents - said that Congress can't give the District a seat in the House because the Constitution says that is reserved for representatives of states. Former Congressman Davis pointed out that by that logic the federal government wouldn't be able to tax District residents because it isn't a state; District residents wouldn't have a right to a jury trial; and Congress wouldn't be able to regulate the District as part of interstate commerce.

    "If Congress has the authority to [protect and enforce] constitutionally granted rights and duties," Davis said, "there should be no question it has the same authority to protect the most sacred right of every American - to live and participate in a representative republic."

    Indeed, former Assistant Attorney General Dinh pointed out that "the Constitution grants Congress the broadest possible legislative authority over the District of Columbia," a power "described as majestic in scope."

    Proponents know that if the bill is signed into law it will face a legal challenge and probably end up before the Supreme Court. "But whichever side we come down on, I think we can agree that legal arguments are best sorted out in the courts," Majority Leader Hoyer said. "At this point in the debate, we should make our case on principle, not technicalities. If you oppose this bill, you need to tell us: Just what does our country gain by treating the people of Washington, DC differently from America's other 300 million?"

    That "different treatment" was perhaps best captured by fourth generation Washingtonian and former Iraq combat logistical patrol commander, Captain Lee, who said, "I am proud to be an American. I am proud to be a Washingtonian. And I am proud to be a soldier. That will never change. But I ask you to change my status as an American citizen who pays taxes and serves in war and peace, but is entitled only to a non-voting delegate in the US House of Representatives."

    The hearing wasn't lacking in the bizarre. Texas Republican Congressman Louie Gohmert is against this bill, but said repeatedly that he is really moved by DC's "Taxation without Representation" license plates and the plight of the District residents. His solution? He's offering a bill that would end federal taxes for District residents. Screw the representation, end the taxation. (Definitely not a great move for the country at this moment - DC pays the second highest per capita federal income taxes.) The other idea repeatedly offered by Republicans: give the District to Maryland.

    After the hearing, (non-voting) Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton made the keen observation that all of these Republicans so concerned about the constitutionality of this bill seem to have no questions whatsoever about the constitutionality of simply handing the District over to Maryland. She also addressed my concern about President Barack Obama's recent comment to the Washington Post that he supports a voting representative for the District, "But this takes on a partisan flavor, and, you know, right now I think our legislative agenda's chock-full."

    "I talked to them afterwards to make sure I hadn't misunderstood," she said. "The President co-sponsored the bill. That comment came up in terms of his own priorities... economic stimulus priorities. [They tried] to throw him into the mix of something that he has no responsibility for. All I need him to do is sign the bill.... We don't want him in that part of the mix [in Congress] - because it's getting real partisan over here.... As far as I'm concerned he's already signed it, because he's a cosponsor of the bill."

    Ilir Zherka, Executive Director of the education and advocacy organization DC Vote, also attended the hearing. He's been working on this bill for six years and told me he's optimistic about its chances. "Ultimately, elections matter," Zherka said. "And what happened last year was that there were a bunch of very important elections - most of them broke our way, we have more support in the Senate as a result, and of course we have President Barack Obama who will sign this into law."

    But Zherka also said the bill's "opponents are both smart and determined to stop us." They will try to introduce amendments that are "poison pills", and then there are the delay tactics of Senate Minority Leader Dr. No (my nickname for McConnell, not Zherka's). Zherka would like to see President Obama help build momentum for the bill by switching the tags on his motorcade to DC's "Taxation without Representation" plates - which he feels would receive media coverage nationwide and worldwide - and take the opportunity on Lincoln's birthday to speak to "the incomplete democracy that we have in the nation's capitol, and how important it is to finish the work of Lincoln here in Washington, DC."

    DC Voting Rights were well represented in Congress yesterday, but this fight is just beginning - once again. You can tell President Obama that you hope he will do what he can to support this effort by clicking here.

    --------

    With reporting from Capitol Hill by Greg Kaufmann, a freelance writer living in his disenfranchised hometown of Washington, DC.