Holmes Norton told reporters, "We do believe we have the votes." To the 58 Democratic votes needed to get past a GOP filibuster (they filibuster everything), add Republican Sens. Susan Collins and George Voinovich, who back the legislation in committee.

Still, Holmes Norton says she expects Republican "mischief," possibly in the form of "poison pill" amendments. Here's hoping it goes through as expected. It's absurd that the nation's capital suffers taxation without representation.

This would be a major step toward fixing a "taxation without representation" setup that should have been taken care of long ago. Alas, Republicans worry more about the fact that the District is largely poor and black (thus traditionally Democratic) than they do that there are people in our country who are unrepresented in our government. Shame on them, and may they take a public beating over this when it comes to the floor!