Norton’s Last Attempt for House Floor Vote Fails

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By Bridget Bowman
Posted January 6, 2015 at 6:23pm

House Republicans defeated a final attemp t by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., to restore her vote in the Committee of the Whole on the House floor Tuesday.  

When the delegate vote was left out of the House rules package released Monday, Norton pledged to invoke a procedural tactic on the House Floor to reinstate the vote. But House Republicans defeated her motion on a party-line vote of 192-129. Norton attempted the same tactic at the start of the 112th and 113th Congresses and was defeated then as well. Though Norton realized this motion would fail again, she believed it was important to put members of Congress on record supporting or rejecting the delegates’ votes.  

Norton and her fellow delegates did gain a vote in the Committee of the Whole when Democrats held the majority in the 103rd, 110th and 111th Congresses. But if a delegate’s vote was decisive, there would be an automatic revote, excluding the delegates. When Republicans took control of the House, that vote was eliminated.  

The District representative said in a statement Tuesday she would continue to push for her and her fellow delegates’ right to vote on the floor.  

“We intend to use every available opportunity to build toward the equal citizenship rights for D.C. that come with D.C. statehood,” Norton said. “Today’s crude abuse of power must drive our determination for a vote that cannot be eliminated and for a status fully equal to our fellow citizens.”