The Senate passed a long-awaited bill giving District of Columbia residents a voting representative in the House. The bill, S 160, passed Thursday 61-37 with six Republicans voting in favor of the bill.
The bill also creates an at-large House seat for Utah, which barely missed gaining a seat in the 2000 Census. That measure was expected to garner more Republican support for the legislation, which would create a Republican seat to balance out the overwhelmingly Democratic District of Columbia.
That doesn’t mean representation for the district is a sure thing; groups opposed to the legislation are sure to quickly challenge its constitutionality in court, and many believe the case will make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The bill still needs to go before the House, but since the House passed a similar bill last year, passage of this bill is almost assured.
