Photo by Tim Gibbon

D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton today introduced two bills that would grant D.C. varying degrees of representation in Congress.

One bill would give D.C. the full panoply of congressional representation: two senators and one voting member of the House. The other bill would be more limited, offering D.C. only a voting member of the House. Last week Norton introduced a bill that would make D.C. the union’s 51st state.

The bills represent yet another push on Capitol Hill to change the city’s longstanding second-class status. Still, they face tough odds. The House recently voted to again deny Norton voting privileges in the Committee of the Whole, and many Republicans remain wary of any measure that would grant D.C. statehood or any of the benefits of statehood—namely, full representation in Congress. Additionally, the proposal to only give D.C. a single voting seat in the House reached its nadir before the 2010 Census, when it was connected to an additional House seat for Utah.

Yesterday Norton also re-introduced a measure that may have legs, though: a bill granting D.C. enhanced budget autonomy. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has said that he’s in favor of allowing city officials to use their own money with fewer restrictions, though a bill he introduced in late 2011 would have codified the prohibition of the use of local funds for abortions. City officials and Norton rejected that option, and have since been fighting for a clean budget autonomy bill.

Whether or not the budget autonomy bill goes anywhere might end up being irrelevant, though: D.C. residents will vote on a budget autonomy referendum on April 23.