Bill with seats for Utah, D.C. will come up again in April

WASHINGTON — A bill to give the District of Columbia a vote in Congress and add a fourth House seat for Utah will come up again in mid-April, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said.

House Democrats had expected to pass the bill last week, giving the district its first full-fledged vote in the chamber. But Republicans moved to send it back to committee, injecting new language that would have thrown out the city's strict anti-gun laws.

Democrats are seeking new tactics to avoid similar problems when they return to Washington on April 16 following a two-week recess, Hoyer said.

"I intend to have the D.C. bill back on the floor the first week that we return," Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters Tuesday. "And I expect it to be in a position where we will not have the procedural problems that we confronted."

D.C.'s congressional delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton, said she was pleased that Democrats will quickly take up the measure.

"A short delay can't kill this strong bipartisan voting-rights bill," said Norton, who is permitted to vote in House committees but not on final passage of legislation.

The city has no voting senators, and the legislation does not provide for any.

Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., shared Norton's sentiments.

"Davis is certain that process won't stand in the way of justice for much longer," his chief of staff, David Marin, said.

Brian Kennedy, a spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Republicans "look forward to whatever new challenge they bring us."

Democratic leaders yanked the bill from the House floor last Thursday, fearing that some conservative Democrats would line up with Republicans on the gun measure.

The bill is a political compromise that would add a total of two seats to the House, one for heavily Democratic D.C. and another for Republican-dominated Utah, which argues it would have gained a seat if Mormon missionaries abroad were counted in the 2000 census.

The White House and House Republican leaders oppose the bill, saying it is unconstitutional. Prospects in the Senate remain uncertain, although Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, predicted the bill would fail under a veto threat.

DC Vote, the main advocacy group backing the measure, has been mobilizing supporters to turn out for an April 16 march on the Capitol led by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty.