Why shouldn't Washington DC have voting rights in Congress?

I don’t see why they don’t.

They should.

That would make the placement of the capitol open to debate over regional social and economic interests. I would then want to debate the location of the capitol.

I guess for now it is tradition. Also, if they give DC a representative it takes one away from somewhere else I guess. So I would think states that risk that would be against it.

It’s a city, not a state, and it’s not unusual for a city to have severely divided congressional representation and no true representative.

Map of Texas Congressional Districts

Check out what’s been done to Houston, Dallas, and Austin in terms of representation. They’re constantly arguing to redraw it to divide populations that may vote together, it’s insane.

With the current system, congress gets final say with what goes on in DC, I would think that would lead them to be the most represented area instead of the opposite.

@funkdaddy I don’t really understand your first sentence. Every city in America has some sort of representation in Congress except DC. Sure, many times it is multiple cities or even a whole state that get the one representative in the house, but they gets one even if it is shared.

I’m a 10 minute WALK from being in any of 3 congressional districts.

Which of those representatives represent the interests of my city?

The map has been drawn specifically to break up the power of votes in my area.

@funkdaddy DC does not vote for anyone in congress, how can you say the people of DC are represented? I don’t think congress cares about the people in DC so much. It is 50% black, a lot of poverty. Meanwhile, I am not arguing DC should have a representative, I don’t have a strong opinion on the subject. Just going through the arguments in my head.

More than 35% of DC residents work for the government.

More federal money goes to DC per capita than any other state. 5x the amount raised from taxes. New Mexico is the state with the highest spending per capita at just over 2x the amount paid in taxes.

Most representatives have a home or at least temporary residence in the area. They spend time there. The city government meets directly with congress, presents their problems in person, and has their budget approved face to face.

If they’d like to trade “representation”, I’m all for it. Send my mayor and my city council to argue for my local dollars instead of some guy elected by an average vote of everyone from me to Houston.

Edit to add sources:
Government workers by State
Federal Taxes Paid vs Federal Spending (DC is listed last, would love to find a better source for this info to back it up)

@funkdaddy Some good points there for me to think about. The money going into the city from taxes, well, it is our nations capital, that a disproportionate amount of federal money goes into it does not bother me at all. I realize you were not saying it necessarily bothers you, but just thought I would comment on that statistic. I still have my doubts that congressman on the whole have been very worried about the poor in DC.

CNN Will work – can’t edit previous quip

Top 4 – “State” | Expenditure | Per Capita
—————————————————————————————
District of Columbia….553,523…..$67,982.10/resident
Alaska…....................655,435….$12,885.17/resident
Virginia…................7,459,827…..$12,150.14/resident
Maryland…..............5,558,058…..$11,645.42/resident

Apparently being pretty close to DC doesn’t hurt much either.

@funkdaddy Eh, here is another stat on the same topic.

States that get the most from the fed per dollar paid in:

1. D.C. ($6.17)
2. North Dakota ($2.03)
3. New Mexico ($1.89)
4. Mississippi ($1.84)
5. Alaska ($1.82)
6. West Virginia ($1.74)
7. Montana ($1.64)
8. Alabama ($1.61)
9. South Dakota ($1.59)
10. Arkansas ($1.53)

Here are the Top 10 states that supply feed for the federal

States Receiving Least in Federal Spending Per Dollar of Federal Taxes Paid:
1. New Jersey ($0.62)
2. Connecticut ($0.64)
3. New Hampshire ($0.68)
4. Nevada ($0.73)
5. Illinois ($0.77)
6. Minnesota ($0.77)
7. Colorado ($0.79)
8. Massachusetts ($0.79)
9. California ($0.81)
10. New York ($0.81)

The reference is decidedly biased, but I have seen stats basically saying the same thing from neutral sources, just didn’t find them quickly in my google search. Basically the blue states typically pay in more than the red. Which also tends to be the southern states, the states complaining so much about taxation, get more than their fair share. I’ll try to find the full list so we can see MD and VA. Some of the richest counties in America are in MD and VA, so they are paying a lot of taxes into the fed.

@JLeslie which, I hate to belabor, If the capitol is going to get 2 senators and a voting rep, I think I want the capitol moved to downtown New Hampshire.

@Imadethisupwithnoforethought Haha. I get what you are saying. :) Have you been to DC? I don’t think anywhere in New Hampshire has areas like southeast DC, and I don’t think many people in your state would want the problems that are in DC.

A bubch of capital answers. Thanks. @JLeslie adding a representative for DC wouldn’t necessarily have to take any away from the states. Congress has changed the number of total representatives 64 times from its original 59 members to today’s 435.

@ETpro Interesting. I always think of it as being a static number, but of course it has changed over the years, at minimum it would change with the increase in the size of our country.

@JLeslie I have no idea why, but the last two changes were from 437 to 436, and then 436 to the current 435. This while the population grew substantially.

@ETpro Probably best to have an odd number.