Word: vote
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Always an odd federal orphan, the District of Columbia has struggled to wean itself from congressional control since it was first cobbled together in 1790. Residents could vote for House members in neighboring Virginia and Maryland until 1801, but city leaders were originally appointed by the President. The city enjoyed some self-rule for much of the 19th century, but most of it was stripped away in 1874. Voters couldn't participate in presidential elections at all until the 23rd Amendment was ratified in 1963. After persistent lobbying by residents - their neighbors, after all - lawmakers passed the Home Rule...
...Congress allowed D.C. to send a nonvoting delegate to the House of Representatives (a position currently filled by the fiery advocate Eleanor Holmes Norton), and continued pressure led to a 1978 constitutional amendment that would have given the District a full vote in Congress. But the amendment fizzled, winning support in fewer than half the states needed. In 1980 District voters even approved their own constitution - for a 51st state to be called New Columbia. That plan went nowhere. (See pictures of voting machines...
...main argument against granting D.C. a congressional vote is a simple one: it's not a state. Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution says Representatives are to be chosen "by the people of the several states." "The Constitution of the United States could not be clearer," Arizona Senator Jon Kyl recently said on the Senate floor. And while his opposition may have as much to do with politics as law - Republicans are skittish about a slippery slope that would lead to U.S. Senators from D.C., a Democratic stronghold - the definition of a state is surprisingly hard to pin down...
...Senate is expected to vote on the measure next week and send it to Obama, who will probably sign it. That way he can turn his attention to what the White House says it is really focused on - Obama's first budget, for fiscal 2010, the outline of which is due to be released on Thursday. "I want to pass a budget next year that ensures that each dollar we spend reflects only our most important national priorities," Obama said on Tuesday night. The anticipated austerity of that budget, which will likely allow President George W. Bush's tax cuts...
...what they view as Obama's blatant hypocrisy. House minority leader John Boehner and nine other House Republicans sent Pelosi and Obama a letter asking for a freeze in spending levels and for a re-examination of the earmarks in the bill. "There are 9,000 reasons to vote against this spending bill - 9,000 earmarks slipped and crammed into this pork-stuffed nightmare," Representative John Shadegg, an Arizona Republican, said on Wednesday in a statement. "Last night, President Obama bragged about this claim that there were no earmarks in his stimulus bill - and yet he's silent today...