U.S. Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., promised Thursday that he wouldn’t let a D.C. voting rights bill get lost in the Democratic reshuffle of Congress.
Davis, the outgoing chair of the House Government Reform Committee, sponsored a bill that would give D.C. one voting member of the House and give an extra congressional seat to Utah.
It originally gave Utah an at-large seat, but that met resistance from House Judiciary Committee chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis. Utah must now decide how to carve out a fourth congressional seat before the bill can return to the House Judiciary Committee.
The Democrats swept to power in Congress in Tuesday’s elections, but Davis said he would make sure that focus on the bill is not lost.
“The change in majority becomes almost irrelevant for this bill because it’s received strong bipartisan backing,” said David Marin, spokesman for Davis.
Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., a member of the Judiciary Committee, agreed. “I do think it’s now on people’s radar screens,” even if the bill doesn’t pass the lame-duck session of Congress, Van Hollen said.
Utah Gov. Jon Hunstman Jr. — a supporter of the voting rights bill — could convene a special session of his state Legislature as early as Monday. That would allow the Judiciary Committee to “mark up” the bill through next week for a floor vote before December.
It’s not clear that the Republicans’ hearts are in for much floor voting. The GOP, demoralized by what President Bush called a Democratic “thumping,” is facing its own internal conflict over its congressional leadership.
Bush said he would consider the bill if it comes to his desk.
“It’s the first I’ve heard of it,” he said. “I didn’t know that’s going to come up from the lame duck.”
Some constitutional critics have said the bill is inadequate because the constitution only grants representation to the states. .
The Democrats have traditionally championed voting rights for D.C. — at least in rhetoric.
The Democrats failed to pass voting rights legislation even when they controlled both houses of Congress and the White House in theearly 1990s.
In 2004, D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton was criticized for watering down a voting rights plank of the Democratic Party platform.
Norton said that she didn’t think Bush would veto the bill if it passes Congress.
“The president will take his cue from what the Congress does,” she said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
