WASHINGTON, March 16 (UPI) -- A House committee has approved a bill that would give Utah a fourth congressional seat and the District of Columbia a vote in the U.S. Congress.
The measure is expected to win easy approval in the House, where Democrats are in the majority. Its chance of passage in the Senate is smaller.
The White House told Utah newspapers Friday that President George W. Bush opposes the bill.
Utah came close to getting a fourth seat after the 2000 Census and is considered certain to pick one up after the 2010 count. Backers of a voting representative for the district added a Utah seat to make the plan party-neutral, giving both Democrats and Republicans an additional vote.
Alex Conant, a spokesman for the White House, said the bill is unconstitutional because the district is not a state. The Constitution says "the several states" shall send representatives to Congress.
