Reid Pledges Support for a Seat in House

Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) pledged his strong support yesterday for a D.C. voting-rights bill, saying he wants to bring it to a floor vote after it is considered by a Senate committee next week.

Reid addressed the issue at a meeting in the Capitol with Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) and D.C. Council members. He praised them for their advocacy of the bill, "which I look forward to bringing to the Senate floor." He did not say when that might occur.

Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.), a co-sponsor of the bill, also attended the session. Lieberman announced that the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which he chairs, will vote on the legislation Wednesday.

"We're going to pass this bill out of committee with bipartisan support," he said.

The bill was approved by the House in April. Lieberman said supporters do not yet have the 60 Senate votes needed to avoid a possible filibuster. That's not the only hurdle they face: President Bush has threatened to veto the measure if it reaches his desk.

"We've got our work yet ahead of us," Lieberman said, but added: "We're within reach."

The bill is a political compromise that would add two seats to the House. One would go to the overwhelmingly Democratic District, and the other to the state next in line to expand its delegation. That state is heavily Republican Utah, at least until the next redistricting in 2012.

In a statement after the meeting, Reid said: "It is wrong that the residents of the District of Columbia are denied the right to full voting representation on the House. They pay taxes, serve in the military and deserve the same vote in the House as all other American citizens."

The bill's opponents, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), have pointed to the constitutional requirement that limits House membership to representatives of states. Supporters of the legislation counter that the Constitution gives Congress sweeping powers over the District. They maintain that those powers allow for the creation of a House seat for the District.

District representatives were jubilant after the session with Reid, saying it showed that the bill was moving forward swiftly.

"We had a great meeting," Fenty said. "We talked about strategy. We got the full commitment from the majority leader of the Senate to have a vote on it soon. I wouldn't be surprised if it was as early as July."

Norton called the session "a very rare meeting where the majority leader puts his own personal imprimatur and authority behind a bill" before it passes through committee. She said the bill was moving quickly through the required steps in the Senate.