As the leadership of the Republican controlled U.S House drafts rules and policies for the new Congress which convenes next month, a House Democratic leader has urged the Republican leadership to extend voting privileges to congressional delegates from the District of Columbia and the U.S. territories to vote in the Committee of the Whole.

The request was made in a Dec. 19 letter from U.S. Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, the Democratic Whip, to U.S. Rep. Peter Sessions, chairman of the House Committee on Rules. Hoyer says that granting such privilege shows the Delegates “a respect for their status and for the millions of Americans they represent.”

Among those sent copies of Hoyer’s letter is American Samoa’s Congresswoman-elect Aumua Amata, who was asked by Samoa News last Friday for comments and reaction to the request.

She was also asked if she would support such a provision to House rules if asked by the Republican leadership for her opinion.

“While I believe Mr. Hoyer's appeal is well reasoned and would support his proposal if it were part of the Rules package that the Republican Conference will consider, I would not vote against it if this provision were omitted,” Amata said in a press statement over the weekend. She also acknowledged she has not yet received Hoyer’s letter, which was provided to her by the media.

“While the entire House ultimately will adopt the Rules, as a practical matter the Republican Conference package will be the Rules the Full House will approve,” she said adding that other Delegates have asked her about this issue. (See separate story on Amata’s complete press statement printed elsewhere in today’s edition.)

HOYER’S APPEAL

In his letter, Hoyer recalled that early in the 110th Congress, the House adopted a rules provision granting House delegates from the territories  —including American Samoa and the District of Columbia — the privilege to cast a vote in the Committee of the Whole.

This provision was carried over into the next Congress and included the new Delegate from the Northern Mariana Islands, said Hoyer, who was the main sponsor of the measure allowing delegates to cast votes in the Committee of the Whole.

He pointed out that the provision was identical to the one that existed in the 103rd Congress, which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled in 1994 was constitutional.

To ensure that the provision complies with Article I of the U.S. Constitution, in the event that a matter before the Committee of the Whole is decided by the margin of the votes cast by the Delegates, the provision requires an automatic re-vote in the full House, in which the Delegates may not participate, he wrote.

Hoyer argued two reasons justifying the Delegates to vote in the Committee of the Whole and should persuade even those in the House who staunchly maintain that, without exception, Delegates should not be granted this privilege.

He explained that the Committee of the Whole is the functional equivalent of a regular House committee. In both instances, the function of these committees is to expedite consideration of bills and amendments while ensuring that debate is fair to both sides of the aisle. Since delegates have had the right to vote in House committees, it stands to reason that they should also have the right to cast votes in the Committee of the Whole.

He also argued that Delegates are elected by the American citizens they represent, just as all House members are, and collectively represent almost 5 million Americans. Allowing Delegates the “opportunity to express, for the record, their positions on issues of significance that are before the Committee of the Whole strengthens the ability of the electorates in the District of Columbia and the U.S. territories and possessions to hold their representatives to account at election time,” he said.

“The extension of the right to vote in the Committee of the Whole shows them a respect for their status and for the millions of Americans they represent. I believe this action is worthy of our great democracy and required by our commitment to representative government,” he pointed out.

“Delegate voting is not only constitutional; it improves the legislative process and the degree to which the House of Representatives accurately reflects the 310 million Americans who are subject to the laws it passes. In that sense, every American benefits,” he said and strongly urged Rep. Sessions to include the right for Delegates to vote in the Committee of the Whole.