Last week’s hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on legislation that would grant the District a voting seat in the House of Representatives seemed to go swimmingly. Mayor-to-be Adrian Fenty and outgoing mayor Anthony Williams played nice among the 200-person crowd, no one on the committee chimed in to argue against the legislation — all seemed to be moving forward.

Almost.

Committee chairman Rep. James Sensenbrenner has apparently expressed displeasure with a provision of the legislation that would grant Utah an additional at-large seat in the House, arguing that it would mean that Utah residents would all have more than one representative in the 435-seat chamber. In most cases, the offending provision could simply be amended out, but in this case, it is the very provision that has secured the Republicans’ tepid support for the legislation. If it goes, so goes the very Republican backers that are needed to see the legislation through.

As a consequence of the news, the folks at D.C. Vote — the legislation’s main pushers — have cancelled their annual Congress Day (set to take place this Thursday), and will instead focus on salvaging what they can in the wake of Sensenbrenner’s announcement. The group’s executive director, Ilir Zherka, had this to say:

We are working with our allies to develop a bipartisan compromise. We are encouraged by the strong and unanimous agreement from last week’s historic hearing that DC’s continued denial of democracy is wrong and is a problem that must be addressed. We are further encouraged by Republican Governor of Utah Jon Huntsman’s pledge to make the creation of a new 4-seat district map a ‘fair and objective’ process. We remain hopeful for swift action from both parties that builds upon the bipartisan spirit that brought this civil rights issue to the forefront.

Let’s hope they pull something off. We feel the voting rights just teasing us, calling to us, offering us their sweet promise of democracy fulfilled…

Picture snapped by andertho