Confusion Marks Path to D.C. Vote in House

D.C.'S DELEGATE to the House of Representatives, Eleanor Holmes Norton, has a vote in the House, but only in committee, not in the Committee of the Whole (aka, the House floor). There's legislation out there that would give her a full vote on the House floor. There's also a proposed rule change supported by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., that's expected to go up for a vote on Wednesday that would give D.C.'s delegate a vote on amendments. Then there's a Feb. 15 D.C. voting rights lobbying day on Capitol Hill planned. And that's in addition to an April 16 Emancipation Day march on the Capitol for D.C. voting rights.

Confused? As The Post's Mary Ann Sheridan wrote over the weekend, there's tension between Norton and D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty on what action should be taken when to be most effective in securing a full vote in the House. Norton feels that the planned April march is too late to push grassroots D.C. voting rights activism on Capitol Hill since the best chance for Norton's bipartisan legislation — co-sponsored with Virginia Rep. Tom Davis — to pass is next month.

Adding to Norton's frustration: She walked into a Friday news conference not knowing that Fenty had already set the date for the voting rights march down Pennsylvania Avenue. Oops.

» "Measure Offers Norton More Voting Power" [WaPo]

Photo by Dayna Smith for The Washington Post