District of Columbia Representation: Effect on House Apportionment

Publication Date: January 2007

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Politics

Type:

Abstract:

Two proposals (H.R. 328 and H.R. 492) have been introduced in the 110th Congress. Both provide for voting representation in the U.S. House of Representatives for the residents of the District of Columbia, but in, fundamentally, different ways. H.R. 328, for purposes of voting representation, treats the District of Columbia as if it were a state; H.R. 492 adds the District's resident population to the state of Maryland for purposes of representation. Both proposals increase the size of the House to 437 members from 435. Both provide for a representative for D.C. residents (one via representation in a new Maryland seat). And both proposals would, essentially, provide an additional seat to the state of Utah over what it received in the 2002 apportionment. This report will be updated as conditions warrant.