Norton Seeks to Keep 'Committee of the Whole' Vote

With Republicans set to take control of the House in January, the prospects for District voting rights don't look great. So Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) is trying to keep one of the few legislative privileges she does have.

Norton isn't allowed full voting rights on the House floor, but she is allowed to vote in the Committee of the Whole -- a legislative term that describes when the full House chamber essentially becomes a committee for the purposes of considering legislation.

The House becomes the Committee of the Whole when considering amendments on tax and spending bills. Norton has been allowed to vote on those amendments, though not on final passage of the measures, while Democrats have been in the majority. But Republicans did not allow her that privilege during their reign from 1995-2007.

On Monday, Norton wrote to presumptive Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to ask that she be allowed to keep the vote in the 112th Congress.

"The opportunity to vote in committees, now including the Committee of the Whole, is significant to the American citizens who live in the nation's capital and pay full federal taxes annually to support our federal government," Norton said in a news release...

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http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2010/11/norton_seeks_to_ keep_committee.html

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