House passes bill to give Utah, District of Columbia new house seats

WASHINGTON — The people of the District of Columbia moved a step closer Thursday to gaining voting rights denied to them for more than 200 years.

But the legislation passed by the House on a 241-177 vote faced a veto threat from the White House, which said the bill was unconstitutional.

The bill would increase full House membership from 435 to 437, giving the largely Democratic half-million residents of the district a seat and adding a temporary at-large seat for Republican-leaning Utah. The House has consisted of 435 seats since 1960.

The bill now goes to the Senate, where its fate is uncertain. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., echoing the position of the Bush administration, said it was unconstitutional and he would oppose it.

"This legislation corrects a serious flaw in our democracy," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. "We will not rest until full voting representation in the House is granted to the District of Columbia."

Democrats had to pull a nearly identical bill from the floor a month ago after Republicans surprised them by proposing language, with a good chance of passing, that would have lifted the district's ban on semiautomatic weapons and other tough gun restrictions. This time, over strong protests from Republicans, Democrats came prepared with a floor procedure blocking a gun vote.

Under that procedure limiting GOP options for changing the bill, the House separately took up a small revenue-raising bill to pay for the cost of elections in the district. That passed 216-203.

Opponents of the legislation pointed to Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution, which says members of the House should be chosen "by the people of the several states."

"Judges and legal experts agree that since D.C. is not a state, it cannot elect members of Congress," said Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, top Republican on the Judiciary Committee.

Supporters, led by the current D.C. delegate in the House, Eleanor Holmes Norton, say the Constitution grants Congress the authority to give the district full voting rights.

Her Republican partner on the bill, Virginia Rep. Tom Davis of Washington's suburbs, said district residents had paid taxes with others in the U.S. this week and had served in war. He urged other Republicans to "see through the fog of armchair constitutional analyses and do the right thing."

Currently, Norton can vote in committee and on some amendments but not on final passage of any bill. Republicans questioned whether the bill would allow the district to keep its delegate, with limited voting rights, along with a new representative with full rights.