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House GOP Again Denies Norton The Vote

D.C. Del. plans to appeal rules for Committee of the Whole

By: Patrick Madden // January 3, 2013
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D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton may be denied the vote in the Committee of the Whole in the 113th Congress if the GOP gets its way.
Eleanor Holmes Norton
D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton may be denied the vote in the Committee of the Whole in the 113th Congress if the GOP gets its way.

D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton was once again denied the right to vote in the Committee of the Whole on the House floor, but she plans to challenge the decision, the Associated Press reports. 

Norton, who is D.C.'s non-voting delegate to Congress, can vote in committees but not on the House floor. But a judge has ruled in the past that she can vote on the floor in the Committee of the Whole, which considers changes to legislation. 

She has been granted that vote when Democrats controlled the House but not when Republicans are in charge.

"Denying our more than 600,000 taxpaying D.C. residents the vote they won fair and square both disrespects our nation's democracy and the American citizens who live in the nation's capital," Norton said in a statement.

The draft rules for the 113th Congress, which convenes today, don't allow her to vote in the committee. She filed a motion Thursday to force the House to examine the constitutionality of those proposed rules.

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