Utah 4th-seat bill clears a Senate hurdle

WASHINGTON — Utah's potential fourth House seat cleared another legislative hurdle Wednesday, but potential candidates should not start working on campaign slogans just yet.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved the bill, with several more Republican members expressing their support — but that still might not be enough to get the bill to the president's desk.

Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, a close adviser to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the Republican leader may be able to get the 41 votes he needs to block the fourth-seat bill from getting its own vote. McConnell believes the bill as written is unconstitutional, and other Republicans may agree with him.

The bill creates a fourth House seat for Utah, which would likely go to a Republican, to balance the legislation's main purpose of granting a voting House member for the District of Columbia, which would likely go to a Democrat.

Utah missed an additional seat after the 2000 Census, and the District's delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat, cannot vote, so she and Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., authored a bill creating the two new seats. Most members in either chamber want to see the District get voting rights, but many question the constitutionality of the bill.

Most controversial bills require 60 votes to pass.

On Wednesday, the committee's top Republican Sen. Susan Collins, of Maine, Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., and Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, all supported the bill.

Bennett and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah are co-sponsors, and Collins said she was "particularly impressed" by Hatch's description that the bill is constitutional.

The committee approved two amendments by Collins. One specifies that the bill does not mean the District of Columbia can get two senators and another calls for an expedited court review of the bill if it passes.

Norton and DC Vote Executive Director Ilir Zherka were pleased with the vote and optimistic on the bill's prospects.

"It has incredible bipartisan support," Zherka said. "It sets the stage for strong support on the floor."

Hatch said the passage was an "important step."

"The broad, bipartisan support for this bill raises my hopes that we'll be able to pass this bill through the full Senate," Hatch said. "This was a victory for democracy and a victory for bipartisanship."

The floor vote may come before July 1, and until then advocates will be working those senators still on the fence on the issue or whose views are unknown. Until the vote, it will be a counting game to see if supporters can get to 60 or opponents can get 41 votes, with each side claiming that it is close.