Saturday, May 13, 2006; B01

A day after he said "the stars are aligning" in favor of giving the District a vote in Congress, Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.) conceded that the idea is "a long way" from winning congressional approval and may well founder in the House Judiciary Committee.

But he again pledged to push the bill through the Government Reform Committee, which he chairs, giving the measure its first procedural victory in the House. And he said Judiciary Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) has committed, in writing, to bringing the measure to a vote, which would provide further political momentum.

"I'm ready to concede this is anything but a sure shot. It's not even a sure shot you can get it out of Judiciary," Davis said. "But whatever we do this year moves it along for the next time. . . . If we don't get it this year, we'll get it next year."

Yesterday, House Republican leadership aides reiterated their contention that the bill is going nowhere. And they indicated that Davis had seriously breached House protocol by rushing the bill forward without consulting GOP leaders, particularly House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (Ill.).

[...]

The House aides criticized Davis for indicating that the measure would be taken up by a committee on which he does not serve and that it would get time on the House floor.

"We didn't know anything about this. We're reading it in the paper," one aide said on condition of anonymity to be frank about an internal Republican conference dispute.

Substantively, the aides said the bill would have a difficult time garnering majority support. Under the proposal, the House would expand from 435 members to 437, adding seats for the Democratic capital city and Republican Utah. Although the District member would almost certainly be a Democrat, there are no guarantees with the Utah seat.

Besides, the aide said, "Why we would want to give a Democrat a vote even if another Republican gets a vote doesn't make any sense."

Another leadership aide added: "With everything we need to do in a crucial election year, I can't see this moving."

Yesterday, Davis criticized the comments from "unnamed aides," saying he has discussed his bill "at length" with Hastert and other House leaders.

"The fact that some leadership aide doesn't think D.C. should have the right to vote I don't think is going to count at the end of the day," Davis said.

[...]

Now, Davis said, he has to work on Republicans. Only three of 23 Republicans on the Judiciary committee have signed on to the bill, he said, and he has commitments from eight of 22 Republicans on his own committee. Unless the bill passes both panels with a majority of Republican votes, Davis said, House leaders are unlikely to risk a "big caucus fight" on the floor.