D.C. marchers demand seat in House

WASHINGTON — Hundreds of people filled Pennsylvania Avenue on Monday, chanting and demanding that Congress approve a bill that would grant voting rights for the District of Columbia — the same bill that would add a fourth House seat for Utah.

The House is expected to pass the bill this week, but its ultimate fate may lie with Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, who support Utah getting a new House member but are not as passionate about the proposed bill.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., who will lead the push for the bill in the Senate, said Monday that he would be looking to Utah's senators for support. Lieberman plans to have hearings this spring in the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, of which he is chairman.

"I want to move it as quickly as I can," Lieberman said.

A vote was scheduled on the bill last month, but a last-minute legislative maneuver tacking on a gun-control measure stopped the action and moved the vote until after the congressional spring recess. Norton said Monday that the rules on the bill when it is brought up this week will not allow the same thing to happen.

Norton and Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., said that the bill included a provision for a new seat for Utah, which the state failed to get after the 2000 Census, because Utah would likely elect a Republican to balance out the likely Democratic member from the District.

Last year, the Utah Legislature approved a four-district map to help get the bill passed, but Congress did not act on it in time. The next bill grants the district a vote and creates an at-large seat for Utah until the 2010 Census.

Bennett supports the bill, according to spokeswoman Emily Christensen, but a veto threat from White House advisers, combined with constitutional questions by other members, "make it an uphill battle," she said. She said it is still "wait and see," because the final bill has not yet come over from the House.

Meanwhile, in an interview Friday, Hatch told Washington Post Radio that he would support the bill, because he told Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., that he would. However, he also said is "hesitant" about voting for something that is unconstitutional.

Norton said Monday that the bill does not affect the Senate in any way and that without Hatch and Bennett's support, it will be difficult to get others to support the bill.

"They've got a lot to gain here and they know it," Norton said of Hatch and Bennett. "(They) have as much to gain as the District."

Norton said she also does not listen to any talks about a White House veto because she doubted that Bush would be the "big, bad wolf" and deny Utah and the District a vote if the bill passed the House and Senate.