Senate OKs Congressional Seat for DC

Washington, DC, moved a step closer today to getting a congressional representative. The Senate voted 61-37 to give the district—and its 600,000 residents—a seat in the House of Representatives, the Post reports. The measure now goes to the House, where it is expected to pass next week. President Obama supports the bill and would sign it into law, but its ultimate fate will likely be decided by the Supreme Court.

The measure would add two seats to the House, the first expansion since 1913. As it stands now, the other seat would likely go to Utah. Senators complicated the measure today by adding an amendment to ease DC’s controversial gun-control laws. That’s nowhere to be found in the House version, and it might have to come out in final negotiations between the chambers. (More Washington, DC stories.)