{"id":2162,"date":"2009-01-01T10:28:38","date_gmt":"2009-01-01T15:28:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/?p=2162"},"modified":"2009-01-01T17:51:16","modified_gmt":"2009-01-01T22:51:16","slug":"dc-vote-will-this-be-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/2009\/01\/01\/dc-vote-will-this-be-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"DC Vote: Will This Be the Year?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Will this be the year that DC residents get the same rights enjoyed by citizens in every state<\/a>?<\/p>\n

President-elect Barack Obama is an original cosponsor of the DC Voting Rights bill, which would turn the city’s congressional delegate, who has limited power, into a full-fledged member of the US House.<\/p>\n

Some are hoping Obama will also back measures eventually leading to statehood. The issue could be one of the first legislative initiatives of his presidency, and a test of his commitment to make life better for the district’s 581,000 residents, who on average pay some of the nation’s highest federal income tax bills.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That the title must be a question, rather than a statement, is a result of learned caution on the issue.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 As usual, the Republicans can be counted on to lobby against the effort – they’ll give a dozen different reasons, but it always boils down to their simple opposition to additional Democratic representation.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 But this Republican commitment to disenfranchisement shouldn’t let Democrats off the hook.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Democrats, as a party, haven’t put nearly enough effort into solving this issue as they should.\u00c2\u00a0 With control of Congress and the White House, however, there are no more excuses.\u00c2\u00a0 Make it happen.<\/p>\n

More about the issues and legislative efforts at DCVote.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Will this be the year that DC residents get the same rights enjoyed by citizens in every state? President-elect Barack Obama is an original cosponsor of the DC Voting Rights bill, which would turn the city’s congressional delegate, who has limited power, into a full-fledged member of the US House. Some are hoping Obama will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,4,8,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dc","category-law","category-politics","category-society"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t