Congress is poised to grant the District of Columbia a legislator with full voting rights in the House of Representatives.
After failed attempts in previous years, a wide Democratic majority in Congress and a Democrat in the White House have paved the way for the possible success of the bill, but there is still a chance Senate Republicans could block it.
The legislation would add two members to the House roster — one from the District, the other from Utah — increasing its ranks to 437.
The Senate today is expected to clear a 60-vote procedural hurdle that will allow the chamber to move forward on the legislation, but support may not be strong enough among senators to clear a second 60-vote supermajority that is needed to vote on final passage of the bill.
A Senate leadership aide said Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., was “hopeful” the votes were there to pass the bill, which failed two years ago in the chamber.
Democrats controlled just 51 seats then and control 58 now.
If the bill passes the Senate, it is expected to win approval in the House next month and be swiftly signed by President Barack Obama.
The legislation calls for creating two new House seats in January 2011. Utah has seen a population surge that left it just shy of qualifying for a fourth representative after the 2000 census, and the state is expected to fill the seat with a Republican.
The District’s nonvoting delegate in the House, Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton, has been representing the District since 1991. She can vote on legislation in committee but not on the passage of a bill on the House floor.
Under the legislation being debated Monday in the Senate, whoever wins the seat in 2010 would be granted full voting rights in the next Congress along with the new member from Utah.
