Hoyer and Pelosi Need Your Input: Mike Panetta, D.C. Shadow Representative, informed us that voting rights activists are pushing Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca.) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) to bring the voting rights legislation that was derailed last week back to the floor of the House this week. They’re afraid that if it gets pushed off until next week, it may well get lost in the usual congressional shuffle. Panetta has asked that D.C. residents call Pelosi and Hoyer to encourage them to bring the legislation to a vote as soon as possible. Hoyer can be reached at (202) 225-3130 and Pelosi at (202) 225-0100.

Getting to Know Gohmert: It’s been a bit of a whirlwind ride for District residents and their new representative, Louie Gohmert (R-Tex. and D.C.). We almost feel like we haven’t even gotten to know him. Thankfully, the Austin-American Statesman profiled Gohmert over the weekend. Beyond being a reliable conservative, Gohmert is quite the optimist, or so he says himself: “My sister said one time that I’m probably the most optimistic of all the siblings in my family, like the kid that got the shoebox full of horse excrement and got all excited because he knew there had to be a pony around here somewhere.” He’s also a bit of a firebrand, according to a lobbyist at the Heritage Foundation: “He likes to go down there and make these off-the-wall or out-of-the-ordinary comments to stir things up. If the Republicans need someone to put up a Hail Mary pass and get smacked down for it, Louie’s their guy.”

Details Emerge on Last Week’s Debacle: After debate on the voting rights legislation was postponed last Thursday, we all scratched our heads and wondered how a measure with majority support could have gone down so easily. Apparently it was a battle of parliamentary procedure, and the Democrats just weren’t fast enough with Robert’s Rules of Order to fight back. According to a rundown in Congressional Quarterly, the legislation’s addition of two seats to the House (one for D.C., the other for Utah) would have increased mandatory annual government spending by $2.5 million. Not thinking much of the issue, Democrats added a 0.003 percentage point increase to a provision of the federal tax witholding law to cover the costs. But by doing so, they apparently opened up a Pandora’s Box of parliamentary maneauvers, allowing Republicans to propose motions that would otherwise be called out of order. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Tex.) proposed a motion that would send the legislation back to committee with an amendment tacked on that would effectively kill the District’s restrictive gun laws. Fearing that the move would have the votes to pass and potentially sink the legislation as a whole, Democratic leaders postponed debate.

Voting Rights Happy Hour Tomorrow: Our Voting Rights Happy Hour is still on for tomorrow at 18th Street Lounge. Come and share in our collective disenfranchisement with local bloggers, political figures and — fingers crossed! — Rep. Gohmert.

A Refresher on the District’s Love/Hate Relationship with Congress: If you want a primer on the District’s long and torturous relationship with Congress, head on over to FreeRide, where DCist co-founder Mike Grass details the historical ups and downs between D.C. and the folks on the Hill.