Washington » Congress continued Wednesday to fast-track legislation that would expand the U.S. House and grant new seats to Utah and the District of Columbia -- despite efforts to derail the bill.
The House Judiciary Committee approved the measure and moved it to the full House after a lengthy hearing in which Republicans threw up a barrage of amendments, including one seeking to drop Utah from the political compromise.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, supported the effort to drop his state from the legislation and opposed the bill in general as well.
"I would love for Utah to get a fourth seat. I think they got screwed out of it years ago," Chaffetz said. But the state lost its census case to the Supreme Court and, "from my point of view, you stand behind that."
The attempt failed 20-12, with committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., saying it would have been a "deal breaker of enormous proportions."
Senate Republicans attempted to tie a similar version of the legislation to other politically dicey issues, including boosting gun rights for D.C. residents. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., also tried to block the bill on constitutional grounds. Those GOP efforts failed.
The Senate is expected to vote Thursday on the measure. A House vote is expected next week.
The bill primarily is geared to giving D.C.'s 600,000 residents their first full-voting member of the House, though because that seat will likely be filled by a Democrat, another seat for Republican Utah was added to strike a political balance.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Wednesday he would like to pass a bill granting voting rights for D.C. without Utah, but he knows the Beehive State is key to swinging a few Republican votes.
"Utah, in my opinion, is not a principle [matter]," he said, "it's a practical" consideration.
