Comments about ‘U.S. Senate moving closer to giving Utah 4th seat’

If anyone ever wondered why the Republicans are now the minority party in Congress, this bill provides a good example.

This idea would be a good one if it wasn't for one little fact: IT IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL. Congress has apparently forgotten its oath to uphold the Constitution.

It's unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court will be involved after this bill passes. At least one branch of government can still be relied upon for the correct opinion (one hopes) because the other two seem to BE the problem not the solution. The fact that Hatch hatched it is deplorable.

Since this would happen for D.C., even though it is not a state, will it soon come up for the territories?

America Samoa, Puerto Rico, Guam, Virgin Islands & Etc.

We will have a flag with 59 stars (if my math is correct)

Follow the Constitution!

Are we so desperate for more power that we trash the Constitution? Stupid idea.

Yes, according to "Jeffersonian", this is unconstitutional-Washington DC is not a "State", never has, and never will be. It is a federal district. Therefore, it cannot be represented
by a legislative body.
I do hope the Supreme Court throws this out; even at the expense of Utah losing a congressional seat.

Once D.C. gets its House member, next comes 2 Demo Senators. Utah will get 4th district soon without doing it wrong. There is reason D.C. should not have state rights. It is a political safe haven for larger government activists.

After the events of the recent Utah GOP (Buttars, Waddoups & Company) Do not give Utah a 4th seat.

Wow! The constitution is going to hang by a thread. Is Utah really that desperate for another seat?

Some of the comments here are laughable. Are so many people really that concerned about DC getting representation in congress? Folks, it's not going to change much; it's certainly not going to cause the demise of law and order as we know it. The only thing it will do is give a group of American citizens a voice in their government.

Was there such an outcry when Bush's unconstitutional wiretapping program was made public? Some Utahns sure are funny.

It saddens me to see the constitution so pushed aside. I see it as the scripture of the federal government and yet I wonder how many actually read it. I would hope they'd read it regularly, but the actions of most make me wonder if they've ever read it at all.

I'm not a Ron Paul disciple by any means, but he does have some things spot on - particularly that of following the constitution. I wish many of my fellow Republicans would pick up on some of that and sincerely consider what it means to do so.

It is amazing that so few have read the constitution. DC is not a state. The residential part should be picked up by Maryland, just like the part that wasn't doing very well in the mid 1800's went to Virginia.

That will solve the voting issue. Utah will get the 4th seat in the near future anyway.

Rep Jason Chaffetz is correct. I don't know if he has enough votes on the Rep. Judiciary committee, but at least he is on the committee.

the political bias of the columnists who wrote the article is glaringly apparent from the beginning. They have no business being called journalists.

"end more than 200 years of denying residents of the heavily Democratic District of Columbia a U.S. House seat". Next they'll be saying "end more than 110 years of denying the heavily democratic island of Puerto Rico a US House seat", then it will be the people of Guam who are being denied a house seat, then it will be the people of Nova Scotia a house seat. It doesn't matter that Nova Scotians aren't citizens, since citizenship is only required by the constitution. you know, that stuffy old document that requires you to live in a state to have house representation?

It don't matter how many seats Utah gets, they still sit there, and whine about helping out any / all the people and the elderly.

Two points:
1. Is there any money to build those clean nuclear power plants in the stimulus bill? We heard so much about that during all the campaign rhetoric.

2. You working stiffs are going to get a $13 a week cut in taxes for a while. Where is the tax break for retired seniors? We paid 10% of our income on federal income taxes in 2008. We spent only $39,000 including taxes to live on for all of 2008. That's for two of us. Of course we don't have a mortgage because we spent a lot of our savings to pay that off. We also haven't spent a dime on credit card interest for 30+ years. How do seniors get a tax break when they pay quarterly estimated taxes and don't hold a job anymore? Will the fed add it to our social security? Fat chance.

Dear arc - Chaffetz won't be able to stop this thing. He's marginalized himself so much on this issue that he isn't even a seat at the table. It doesn't matter what committee he's on. The guy is on Judiciary as a default.

That's what we voted in - a ranter instead of someone who can actually be someone to get stuff done.