District Officials Turn to N.H. House For Vote Bill Support

Council member Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3), who plans to testify, said D.C. residents were "a bit demoralized" after the voting-rights bill failed.

"I think what you're seeing now is a revival" of the campaign for the vote, she said.

Rosenwald said the House committee on state-federal relations would hear testimony Wednesdayand will probably vote on it by the end of February. The resolution would then go to the full House, she said.

Rosenwald said that she doesn't know whether the measure will pass but that it has gotten a warm reception so far from New Hampshire Democrats, who hold a majority in the House. She had asked for the hearing to occur close to the date of the presidential primary because "the nation's attention is focused on us. . . . It brings it into focus."

Her resolution, co-sponsored by another House member and a state senator, expresses "regret" that New Hampshire's senators "voted to deny the District of Columbia the right to be represented in the Congress."

The D.C. vote bill would add two seats to the U.S. House of Representatives -- one for the heavily Democratic District and another for the next state in line to expand its delegation. That state is currently Utah, which leans Republican.

Catania said he hopes the measure will send a message that lawmakers could pay a price for opposing D.C. voting rights.

"I want to cause these members of Congress who are voting against voting rights . . . to wonder, 'What will this mean to me back home?' " he said.