House to Act by Month's End on D.C. Bill, Hoyer Says

The House of Representatives will vote by the end of this month on a bill giving the District a full vote in the chamber, Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer announced yesterday.

The action would mark the first time in 14 years that a bill granting the District a voting representative reaches the floor of the House. A D.C. statehood measure was soundly defeated in 1993.

But this time, a bill adding one seat for the District and another for Utah is expected to pass, legislators said. It would then have to be approved by the Senate, where its prospects are less certain.

"The people of the District have waited too long to have a voice in the House," said Hoyer (D-Md.), announcing the floor vote, which has not been scheduled. "Democrats promised to move this legislation in the first months of the new Congress, and that is what we are doing."

The House leadership has been involved in delicate negotiations over the bill's provisions in recent weeks, dismaying supporters who had hoped for speedy action. But yesterday, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) and other officials announced that two key congressional committees are expected to approve the bill next week.

The bill, sponsored by Norton and Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), would add two seats to the House -- one for the heavily Democratic District and another for Republican-leaning Utah, which narrowly missed getting another representative after the last Census.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee plans to consider the bill next week, although the date is still being worked out, staff members said.

"This bill is a priority for me," said the committee's chairman, Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.). "Our committee will hold a hearing on it next week and pass the legislation soon after."

The House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on the measure Wednesday, officials said.

Norton is allowed to vote only in committees, not on final passage of legislation.

Democrats have been debating in recent weeks how to fine-tune the measure to ensure it doesn't imperil the seat of Utah's lone Democratic congressman. They have made the extra Utah seat at-large, rather than carving out a new district, as the voting bill had originally contemplated, said Doxie McCoy, a spokeswoman for Norton.

Norton expressed "deep gratitude" to the speaker of the House, saying in a statement: "Like every important decision in the House, the decision to move forward was made by Speaker Nancy Pelosi."

Ilir Zherka, director of the advocacy group DC Vote, said: "We're thrilled . . . it's great to see all the pieces fall into place."