Utah lawmaker against full D.C. voting

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) | A newly elected Utah congressman is opposing the plan to give his state a fourth seat in the House and add a seat for the District.

Jason Chaffetz, a Republican breaking with the rest of the state’s delegation, said Monday he is opposed to the bill because giving the District full voting rights in the House is unconstitutional.

The proposal to expand the House from 435 to 437 seats is designed as a compromise - because conservative Utah would likely elect a Republican to the new seat, while D.C. voters would almost certainly choose a Democrat.

Utah lost out on a fourth seat to North Carolina after the 2000 Census because overseas missionaries were not counted. If Utah would have had an extra 80 people, it would have won the additional seat.

“While I am in favor of Utah gaining a fourth seat, we should not do so at the expense of the principles of the Constitution,” Mr. Chaffetz said.

The House passed the compromise bill in 2007 but it was blocked in the Senate and didn’t have the votes needed to overcome a filibuster. Since then, Democrats have taken over the majority in the House and Senate. And President-elect Barack Obama co-sponsored the bill in the Senate last year.

Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District’s nonvoting House member, recently asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, to bring the bill to a vote by Feb. 12, Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. She did not returns calls Tuesday.

“I recognize that taxation without representation is fundamentally unfair, ” Mr. Chaffetz said. “But what should we do? I believe it is possible to give residents of Washington, D.C., a voice without violating the Constitution.”

He proposes returning residential areas of the District to Maryland.

“Giving Maryland an additional seat in the House of Representatives raises no constitutional questions and gives D.C. residents the representation they seek,” Mr. Chaffetz said.

Because of rapid population growth, Utah is almost assured of gaining a fourth seat in Congress after the 2010 census. It is unclear, however, whether ceding residential areas in the District to Maryland would result in that state gaining a ninth seat.