Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's office said Thursday he is considering bringing the bill to the floor the week of Sept. 17, though the timing depends on how quickly other measures are handled. A vote on proceeding to final passage may take place next week.

The bill is primarily aimed at giving the nearly 600,000 residents of the District of Columbia their first full-voting House member.

That likely Democratic representative would be balanced with an additional seat for Utah, a Republican stronghold that narrowly missed picking up a fourth U.S. House seat after the last census. The bill passed the House earlier this year.

Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, the bill co-sponsor, says the vote has apparently been scheduled and he is confident it will have the 60 votes necessary to prevent a filibuster should that tactic come into play.

"He believes it is long past time that the citizens of the District of Columbia are granted their constitutional right to vote and all the citizens of Utah are properly represented," Leslie Phillips, a spokesman for Lieberman's Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, said Thursday.

Ilir Zherka, executive director of DC Vote, the primary organization pushing the legislation, says it is good news the Senate wants to vote sooner rather than later on the bill. He believes the measure has enough votes to overcome a filibuster but adds supporters are hoping no one would try to block a vote on basic voting rights.

"In our view it would be unconscionable for a senator to filibuster a voting rights bill," Zherka said.

tburr@sltrib.com