[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 17306]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  A NATIONAL REDISTRICTING COMMISSION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Americans are understandably frustrated by the 
political process. Attention has appropriately been directed to the 
perversion of Senate rules that slow the Senate's legislative process 
to a crawl with very real consequences for the ability of the Federal 
Government to function.
  Concern has also been expressed about the House of Representatives. 
The health care debate revealed the deepest of divisions and some of 
the most inflammatory language and action in history. The budget 
battles of the 112th Congress, especially the artificial crisis 
surrounding meeting our debt ceiling obligations, extend and amplify 
that trend.
  Experts across the political spectrum agree that part of this 
divisiveness arises from the very nature of congressional districts. 
Both parties have developed into an art form the ability to manipulate 
redistricting: packing in partisans of a single party, punishing 
opponents and protecting incumbents. Just look at the maps published in 
``Roll Call'' this week, the ``Top 5 Ugliest Districts: Partisan 
Gerrymandering 101.'' Sadly, it's practiced by both political parties. 
We should all be concerned when politicians have more influence picking 
their voters than voters have picking their politicians.
  Now, some progress has been made to insulate the redistricting 
process by creating a few independent commissions and some guidelines, 
but the problems persist. Look at what has happened in Florida to try 
and circumvent those reforms and, more recently, the actions of Arizona 
Governor Brewer firing the independent head of the supposedly 
independent commission. The process remains woefully inadequate, highly 
politicized and subject to what normal people would regard as political 
abuse. For many politicians, the temptation to place partisan 
objectives above the public interest is just too tempting. In the last 
decade, we saw the culmination of this trend in 2003 when Texas 
conducted a hyper-partisan, mid-decade, second reapportionment process.
  Americans deserve better.
  Congressional representation should not be a political blood sport 
that protects incumbents, disenfranchises legitimate interests and 
allows people to achieve with surgical reapportionment what they 
couldn't do honestly at the ballot box. As we approach the 50th 
anniversary of the landmark Baker vs. Carr Supreme Court case that 
required one person/one vote, it's time to revisit that process.
  I would propose that we would establish a national commission, 
composed of ex-Presidents, retired Federal justices, previous 
congressional leaders, housed in an independent, professional agency, 
not unlike what Iowa has done successfully for decades. These 
distinguished and independent experts would establish uniform criteria 
and congressional district lines for each State to respect the 
communities of interest--the ethnic, cultural and historic boundaries--
rather than just partisan affiliation. Indeed, we may even consider 
competitiveness to be a positive outcome. It would then be approved by 
Congress with an up-or-down vote like we do with base closings. We may 
even fix the outrage that denies American citizens of the District of 
Columbia, our Nation's capital, voting representation. Congress should 
enact these proposals now while the abuse of the process is clear in 
everyone's minds--well before the next Census in 2020.
  The ebb and flow of our history has shown that highly political 
gerrymandering can backfire, that political tides can change. Nobody 
knows which party is going to be in charge 10 years from now. Having a 
system that guarantees fairness will guard against the destructive and 
highly partisan maneuvering that we see now.
  Americans deserve better.
  When citizens are treated fairly and all politicians play by the same 
rules, government works better. Meaningful political reform is seldom 
easy. It takes time to educate the public and policymakers and to 
refine the concepts. I am hopeful there will be careful consideration 
of this proposal as a way to make the House of Representatives fair, 
more representative and more effective for this century. Given the 
challenges we face, America deserves no less.

                          ____________________