For a time, 2007 seemed to be the year that voting representation for the District of Columbia would become a reality.

The D.C. Voting Rights Act passed the House of Representatives in April (241-177). But it was defeated in the Senate in September, despite garnering more support — 57 senators voted for it — than ever before.

The bill would have raised House membership to 437 members by giving the District of Columbia one seat and an additional seat to Utah, a state that was short-changed in the 2001 reapportionment.

Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D. D.C., and Rep. Thomas M. Davis, R.Va., co-sponsored the bipartisan bill in the House. Reps. Norton and Davis had originally hoped for 2006 passage in Congress, but the House leadership failed to bring it to the floor. With a change in leadership, supporters were optimistic for 2007…

Read More from Source Via CivilRights.Org

Washington, DC—Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made the following statement today on the floor of the U.S. Senate before voting for the District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act of 2009, which the Senate then passed. Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery:

“We have had a good debate on this bill this week, and I thank my colleagues on the other side of the aisle for their cooperation in moving this bill forward.

“The Senate today is moving to right a centuries-old wrong. It is an inexcusable and indefensible injustice that nearly 600,000 residents of theDistrict of Columbiado not enjoy a voice in Congress like all other American citizens. America is the only democracy in the world that denies the citizens of its capital city the right to voting representation in its national legislature…

Read More from Source Via Democrats Senate

The Constitution gives the U. S. Congress power over the District of Columbia, per Article I, Section 8, clause 17 to “exercise exclusive legislation in all Cases whatsoever over such capital district…as may… become the seat of the Government of the United States” as well as enclaves it might acquire.

Each American citizen is represented in Congress by one person in the House of Representatives and two Senators except citizens of the nation’s capital (and those living in territories, where other factors operate).

• D.C. was part of the original colonies; its citizens did vote in Congress before the capital was moved to D.C.; D.C. citizens are inheritors of the Constitutional claim for voting rights, equal treatment under the law, and other principles.
• Americans living in the nation’s capital — Americans who pay federal taxes and can be called to war — should be treated as other Americans.
• According to the “Federalist Papers,” the lack of attention in the Constitution to D.C.’s situation reflects an oversight.
• In the last official (1990) census, the District’s population (over 600,000) was greater than that of several states (Alaska, Wyoming and Vermont)…

Read More from Source Via DC Watch

District of Columbia resident often feel like second-class citizens. We pay taxes and elect a mayor and city council, but the District’s budget can be messed with by Congress, as though the nation’s capital is not a grown-up jurisdiction, but some sort of adolescent venue in need of adult supervision. (The question of whether Congress is acting like a metaphorical adult is another valid issue entirely.)

This is awful on its face, but it’s made worse by the fact that District citizens don’t have U.S. senators arguing their case in Congress, and have just one delegate in the House who doesn’t have full voting power. It’s truly stunning that after the ratification of the 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution, along with the passage of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, an entire city has been brazenly disenfranchised, denied voting rights in a nation that boasts about being a beacon of democracy. District residents don’t have full voting rights, but are still expected to pay federal taxes, serve on juries and be available to serve in the military.

And now U.S. citizens residing in D.C. are being hit with another insult: They’re being told they’re not even really Americans.

Read More from Source Via U.S News

It may not be a state, but D.C. is increasing its pop­u­la­tion lead on Wyoming and Vermont. The Dis­trict’s pop­u­la­tion con­tin­ued to grow in 2013, climb­ing to an es­tim­ated 646,449 people. According to U.S. census data re­leased on Monday, Washington’s pop­u­la­tion increased by 13,022 people, cap­ping off three years of steady growth. Since 2010, the Dis­trict’s pop­u­la­tion has grown by more than 41,000 people, from 605,125.

Here are the pop­u­la­tion es­tim­ates of the past three years:
2010: 605,125
2011: 619,624
2012: 633,427

Read More from source via National Journal