10:01 a.m. The Senate comes into session with its usual pledge of allegiance, etc. Now Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid is explaining how the day’s work will go in the Senate, including taking up S.160. He’s actually proposing voting on the actual bill today, sometime around 5 p.m. That’s big news.
10:07 a.m. “This legislation has been around for a long time,” Reid said by way of explaining his push to have a vote on the bill this evening after the procedural vote passes this morning. Reid wants to keep the Senate’s Friday schedule clear and get this bill over and done with today.
10:14 a.m. There was some procedural wrangling there between Reid and McConnell we didn’t totally follow regarding the Hilda Solis confirmation, but now the motion to proceed to S.160 is back up. Lieberman is asking for the cloture vote to be moved to 11:15 a.m., since they took up 15 minutes talking about the day’s schedule. Reid just acknowledged Lieberman’s birthday, which is today, leading Lieberman to make a little joke about how he’s of “a certain age” where birthdays leave him with mixed feelings. It’s yuckville USA in the U.S. Senate this morning!
10:19 a.m. “Eleanor Holmes Norton has valiantly and effectively represented the District of Columbia despite the fact that she has no vote on the floor,” Lieberman says. Now he’s going on with his usual history lesson about the founding of the District, which we’ve certainly heard a number of times before in committee testimony.
Here’s an argument we don’t think we’ve heard from Lieberman before: residents of Washington, D.C. were the victims of a direct terrorist attack, referring to the Sept. 11 Pentagon attack, and yet they had no say over how Congress reacted to that attack. Do we quibble about the fact that the Pentagon is in fact in Virginia? Nah, since by all accounts the fourth plane was headed to another federal target within the District.
10:27 a.m. Congress has consistently legislated to enfranchise more and more voters over time, Lieberman says. Now he’s passing the baton to co-sponsor Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). Hatch is going to try to convince his fellow Republicans that they may, can and should pass this bill, and then allow the courts to decide on its constitutionality.
Hatch: “Noting that the District is not a state is a factual observation. It is not a constitutional argument.”
10:36 a.m. Hatch: “I oppose statehood for the District of Columbia. But giving the District a House seat so that its residents can participate in the process of making the laws they must obey, in no way changes either the District’s political status or Congress’ authority over the District.” Hrrrm. Not exactly the argument statehood activists want to hear from Hatch here.
10:41 a.m. Now Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) is up to argue against the bill, and he opens with the “several states” argument.
Oh no! Kyl makes the Gohmert case! “The District does not lack for representation in Congress. It actually already has representatives in Congress, 100 Senators and 435 House members, all of whom, under the Constitution itself, have the jurisdiction and indeed the obligation to provide for the general welfare of the residents of the District of Columbia.” Don’t worry, D.C., we’ll be posting phone numbers and email addresses for Jon Kyl’s offices so that you can place constituent services requests to him directly in just a few minutes.
Sen. Jon Kyl
Republican Whip
730 Hart Senate Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Phone: (202) 224-4521
Fax: (202) 224-2207
Or you can use this form to send an electronic message to Kyl’s office. Let Jon Kyl know what he can do for you, D.C. He’s just announced on the Senate floor that he has “the jurisdiction and indeed the obligation to provide for the general welfare of the residents of the District of Columbia.” Let’s take him up on that promise! Are there any potholes that Jon Kyl can take care of for you?
Another option: Email Jon Kyl’s chief of staff! Tim Glazewski can be reached at Tim_Glazewski(at)Kyl.senate.gov.
10:52 a.m. D.C.’s own senator, Jon Kyl, says we need to pass a constitutional amendment in order to get a voting representative.
11:01 a.m. Kyl says that those who respect the Constitution cannot support this bill in the hopes that the Courts will later decide on its legal merits.
Lieberman says they are waiting on Sen. Dick Durbin to come speak for 5 minutes. In the meantime, he pleads with his colleagues to at least vote for cloture so that the bill can be debated.
11:11 a.m. Durbin (D-Ill.), one of the bill’s main supporters in the Senate, takes the floor. “Do opponents of this bill think that D.C. residents should have the full responsibilities of citizenship, but not the full rights of citizenship?” Durbin goes on to say things he has seen in the Senate regarding how Congress treats the District are “embarrassing,” that Congress uses the District as a point of political leverage and treats it in such a way that no member would ever treat a city within their own home constituencies. Nice to hear such a big time senator admit that on the Senate floor.
11:16 a.m. The cloture vote is now being called to proceed. Roll call.
11:28 a.m. Here come the votes. One vote that’s gone the other way this time: Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS), voted yea this time, even though he voted nay on the 2007 bill. Another vote switch: Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) has voted yea, after voting nay last time. WEIRD? Sen. Bob Bennett of Utah, who voted for the bill last time, has voted no. Don’t forget that the bill also grants an additional House seat to Utah.
11:42 a.m.: Motion to proceed is agreed to, 62-34! Filibuster avoided!
