Chaffetz is against D.C. voting rights

Rep.-elect Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, said Monday that a proposed bill to give the heavily Democratic District of Columbia full voting rights in the U.S. House — and a fourth House seat to heavily Republican Utah as a political counterweight — is unconstitutional and he will oppose it.

He is the first Utah member to do so. Chaffetz defeated Rep. Chris Cannon , R-Utah, in the primary election this year, and Cannon previously supported the bill.

"I have serious constitutional concerns with legislation granting Washington, D.C., full voting rights in the House of Representatives. 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," Chaffetz said.

Opponents of the bill argue that the Constitution allows full-voting rights in the House only for states, and D.C. is not a state. Bill supporters contend that other laws using the wording "state" have been applied to D.C. (such as applying interstate commerce laws), and say Congress has the legal power to give it a seat with full voting rights.

Chaffetz's comments came after the Deseret News reported Sunday that D.C. and civil rights leaders are asking Congress to vote on the bill on Feb. 12, which is the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln and the 100th anniversary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., Washington's nonvoting delegate to the House, said last week, "We cannot think of a more appropriate way to celebrate these milestones than to grant the people of the District of Columbia the equal voting rights they have been denied for more than 200 years."

The House passed a similar bill last year, but it fell three votes short of the 60 needed in the Senate to end a filibuster there. All Utah members of Congress supported the bill, although Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, voted a neutral "present" on it in protest of House leaders not allowing action on some amendments he sought.

Chaffetz proposes solving any constitutional problems with the bill by returning residential areas of D.C. to Maryland, from which the current areas of D.C. were formed more than 200 years ago. (Portions of Virginia included in the original D.C. were later returned to that state.)

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