Maybe enough Senate votes for a Utah seat

WASHINGTON — Voting rights advocates say they have the votes they need for the Senate to approve the bill creating Utah's fourth House seat and give the District of Columbia its first full-voting member — but legislative days remaining before Congress leaves for the monthlong August recess are few.

On Tuesday, advocates urged Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to bring the bill to the floor before Congress leaves next month. At least 2,000 calls went into Senate offices Tuesday asking for support, and DC Vote will hold a second rally outside the Senate office today.

"We believe that if the bill is brought to the Senate floor, we will have the 60 votes we need to defeat a filibuster," said llir Zherka, executive director of DC Vote.

DC Vote, an organization dedicated to voting rights for the district, believes it has the 51 votes needed to pass the legislation creating the two new House seats, but under Senate rules 60 senators would need to allow the vote to take place if anyone decides to filibuster the bill.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., does not support the bill on the grounds it is unconstitutional. McConnell spokesman Don Stewart said he doubted the bill would come up before September. Reid said on the Senate floor Tuesday what his plans were for the remaining legislative days and Stewart said he "didn't hear DC once."

Whether McConnell would filibuster the bill or just vote against it remains to be seen as Stewart would not commit either way.

Reid said he wants to finish several spending bills, Children's Health Insurance, the 9/11 Commission recommendations and other bills.

Reid spokesman Jim Manley said Reid's speech was not intended to be a comprehensive list. He said the majority leader will continue to consult with the supporters of the bill and that he hopes to get it through the Senate as quickly as possible but could not yet give a specific date when it would go to the floor.

But even if the Senate passes the bill, differences would still need to be worked out in the House, it would need to be passed again by each chamber, and the president would have to sign it for it to become law.

Bush's advisers have recommended he veto the bill, but Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and other supporters feel it is unlikely that the veto would happen.

"I believe Bush would sign this bill," Hatch said, adding that it would be "pathetic" if this bill did not become law.

Utah missed a fourth seat after the 2000 Census and the bill is designed so Utah's new member, likely a Republican, would balance out the new D.C. District member, who would likely be a Democrat.

Wade Henderson, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, called voting the "language of democracy" and the district's lack of a vote the "great unheralded civil rights issue."

If the bill does not get done before the August recess, Henderson said he does not think it will be "fatal" to the legislation, it just gives it a tighter time frame to go through the remaining steps in the process.

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E-mail: suzanne@desnews.com