Defense Bill Could Include DC Vote

A plan to give D.C. residents a voting member of Congress could be attached to a defense funding bill.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland was questioned Thursday on the House floor about rumors of attaching the voting provision to the bill. He didn't say whether that would happen but did reiterate his support for the measure.

"I will continue to fight as hard as I can to try to figure out how I can bring that bill to the floor," he said.

The plan would give D.C.'s nonvoting delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton, a vote. To offset Norton's vote, an addition for Democrats, the provision would also add a voting member of the House for Republican-leaning Utah, which narrowly missed out on another representative after the last census.