News Brief

Two Jewish groups expressed disappointment in the U.S. Senate’s failure to pass a law that would expand the District of Columbia’s representation in Congress. “Citizens of the District of Columbia pay federal taxes and serve in the U.S. Armed Forces, yet America remains the only democratic nation in which the citizens of the capital city lack voting representation in the national legislature,” Jeffrey Sinensky, the American Jewish Committee’s director of domestic policy, said in a statement. “The absence of voting rights for the citizens of the District of Columbia is yet another reminder that our nation has yet to attain full liberty and justice for all.” Democrats who backed the bill failed Wednesday to muster the 60 votes in the 100-seat Senate to break a Republican filibuster against it. The filibuster “sends a terrible message, not only to the residents of the District, but to the world about our lack of commitment to democracy at home,” the National Council of Jewish Women said in a statement.