The committee staff said the bill is not on schedule for this week and does not appear to be on next week's either, although that one has not been finalized.

Congress is expected to recess just before Thanksgiving and then come back for a few days in December, although the exact details of that session have not been worked out yet.

Zherka said there is a "real shot of getting up and out in December" as long as the required redistricting is done soon.

"A bunch of things in the pipeline get pushed through in the end," he said, even major pieces of legislation like this one. "We are not talking about anything people are unfamiliar with."

Zherka said pushing the bill to the next Congress would just put everything back at square one, and create additional hurdles.

Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is a co-sponsor of the bill that has the at-large provision for Utah. She supports voting rights for the District of Columbia but needs to see what the final bill looks like.

"Mrs. Pelosi would have to see any changes to the legislation before she could comment," said Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill. "On this issue the devil is very much in the details."

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E-mail: suzanne@desnews.com