House panel considers pros, cons of a 4th seat

"The district now has nearly 600,000 people — greater than the population of all of the 13 original states," Bress said. "Congress may and should act to ensure those resident the same substantive representation that the framers assured their fellow citizens."

District of Columbia residents made their presence known at Wednesday's hearing. During testimony from Bruce Spiva, chairman of the board of DC Vote — a voting right advocacy group — residents stood up silently but en masse as Spiva said there were "teachers, firefighters, veterans and students" who make up the city's population.

"We fight for democracy abroad and are denied it here at home," Spiva said. "We pay federal and local taxes. We serve on federal juries. We have fulfilled every responsibility of American citizenship, and yet we have no say in the passage of our nation's laws and do not even have ultimate authority over our own local laws and institutions."

Spiva said Congress certainly has the right to fix this "and it must change now."

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