Bill to give D.C. its first congressman dies in Senate

It offered new seat for Utah, to entice GOP, but failed by 3 votes

WASHINGTON (AP) - A bill that would have given District of Columbia residents their first member of Congress died in the Senate yesterday, dashing hopes of full voting rights in the nation’s capital after a 206-year wait.

Senators voted 57-42, three votes short of the 60 needed to move the bill forward. The bill would have created two new House seats: One for the city of about 600,000 people and one for Utah, which narrowly missed out on a fourth seat after the last census.

The procedural vote, against moving on with the debate, effectively killed the best chance in years to win the district a full-fledged House member. The city has been denied voting rights in Congress since 1801, making it the only major capital city in the world where residents don’t have a vote in the nation’s representative body of government.

Advocates had hoped to resolve what they call a “national disgrace” and the most important civil-rights issue of the era. They said they will try again, probably with a new version of the bill next year.