Senators continued this morning to add amendments to the D.C. voting rights bill, which would give the District a full House vote.
Maryland. The vote failed 67-30.
The legislation now on Capitol Hill would give the Democrat-dominated District a full House vote and Republican-leaning Utah a fourth House member.
Mr. Kyl said the amendment was to give D.C. residents a vote in both houses. He said the current bill is unconstitutional. If the legislation passes and is signed by President Obama, a Democrat, as he has indicated he would, the issue would likely go to court and be decided by the Supreme Court.
The Senate also defeated an amendment that would have allowed D.C. residents to not pay federal income taxes and a motion Tuesday by Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, challenging the bill's constitutionality.
The Senate has yet to vote on an amendment that would repeal the city's gun-control laws or on one by Nevada Republican, to keep a program known as the Opportunity Scholarship Program, which faces elimination in the House spending bill.
The program provides money for 1,700 D.C. students to attend private schools, instead of those of the city's struggling public system.