By Mary Beth Sheridan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
The White House stepped up its opposition yesterday to legislation that would give the District a full seat in the House of Representatives, saying that if it reaches President Bush, his top advisers "would recommend that he veto the bill."
The statement came as the House Republican leadership began a vigorous campaign to persuade party members to vote against the bill when it reaches the House floor Friday.
The D.C. vote measure easily cleared two House committees last week, with strong Democratic support and votes from several Republicans. Democrats have pledged to use their 32-seat House majority to pass it. Friday will mark the first time the full House has considered granting the District a full seat in Congress since 1993, when a statehood measure was defeated.
But the threat of a presidential veto could harm the bill's chances in the Senate, where Republican support is needed to avoid a filibuster.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.) and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), would permanently add two seats to the 435-member House. It was crafted to win bipartisan support by giving one seat to the heavily Democratic District and the other to the next state in line to get a representative, Republican-leaning Utah.
A Bush spokesman said last week that the White House opposed the bill on constitutional grounds. But yesterday's declaration was stronger. It came in a Statement of Administration Policy, a document that the White House typically issues days before Congress votes on a measure.
For the first time, the White House indicated that Bush might veto the legislation. However, it did not use the toughest level of language found in such documents -- in which the president promises to wield his veto pen.
Davis expressed disappointment with the statement, saying he did not want Bush's legacy to be "that he spent hundreds of billions of dollars to bring democracy to Baghdad and tried to stifle it in his own country."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also criticized the White House declaration.
"The Speaker strongly believes the people of Washington, D.C. deserve full representation in the House of Representatives," Pelosi's office said in a statement. "This issue should be beyond politics. It involves the essence of our democracy."
Norton said she had called a high-level White House official to ask for reconsideration of the threatened veto.
"The fight has now begun," she said in a statement that did not identify the official.
In its statement, the White House said it opposes the bill because the Constitution limits House representation to members chosen "by the People of the several States."
"The District of Columbia is not a State," the statement said. It added that congressional representation for the city could be achieved only through a constitutional amendment, which has been attempted unsuccessfully in the past. Norton now can vote only in committees.
Supporters of the legislation argue that it is legal under another part of the Constitution, the "District Clause," which gives Congress sweeping powers over the city.
The White House statement said such arguments "are not persuasive." The statement also said the bill could throw Congress into chaos if it was deemed unconstitutional after the new representatives had taken their seats.
Legal scholars have issued widely varying opinions on the legislation.
Bush has cast only one veto in his presidency, on an embryonic stem cell bill. But since Democrats gained control of Congress in January and began passing bills in the House, the president has threatened to veto several measures.
Congress needs a two-thirds majority vote in the House and Senate to override a White House veto. Davis has been trying to persuade Republicans to support his bill and thinks 25 to 30 will vote for it Friday. Last week, a prominent conservative, Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), said he would back the legislation and urge other Republicans to follow.
But House GOP leaders are making clear that they will fight the bill's passage. Davis said they were trying to bring party members in line, a process known as "whipping," which involves offering incentives such as committee appointments.
"They're taking names on this. It's very disappointing," Davis said.
Brian Kennedy, a spokesman for House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), said the party wants "to make the strongest showing possible" against a bill it considers unconstitutional.
"We hope this bill meets the same fate as all of the other bills Democrats have brought forward to date -- which is a slow but certain death in the Senate," he said.
Davis said the Republican effort was aimed at ensuring there were not enough votes in the House to override a presidential veto. Kennedy disagreed.
"It's really more of a firm stand on principle as opposed to politics and the potential for having to override a veto," the spokesman said.
Some Republicans, though, have said openly that they fear the bill could benefit Democrats politically by providing a precedent that could be used to add two Senate seats for the District.
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