Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton has killed the D.C. House Voting Rights Act.

The decision to hold off on current legislation due to the threat of gun-related amendments follows a conference call on Sunday with various advocates and local politicos. A compromise gun legislation proposed by the office of Majority Leader Steny Hoyer was reviewed.

The consensus was not to move forward with the compromise. "Please understand that we are holding the bill for now, not giving up on voting rights," Norton wrote.

[UPDATES BELOW, with statements from Ilir Zherka of D.C. Vote, Council Chairman Vincent Gray, and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty]

Here is the full statement she sent this morning to various legislators, staff, and advocates involved in the voting rights push:

Read More "BREAKING: Norton Kills Voting Rights Bill" »

Roll Call's Tory Newmeyer reports that House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has backed off his earlier promises to bring the D.C. House Voting Right Act to the chamber's floor.

Reports Newmeyer:

"As a result of there not being a consensus, I don’t think we’re going to be able to move the bill at this point in time,” Hoyer told reporters at his weekly briefing....Hoyer had originally set Memorial Day as his target for passing the D.C. voting bill. Before the break for that holiday, he acknowledged the difficulty in reaching a breakthrough but pledged action this year. “It is going to happen,” he said. He declined to repeat the prediction on Tuesday.

Call this one more step toward oblivion for the DCHVRA. Without a 180-degree turn by Eleanor Holmes Norton and others on a possible gun amendment compromise, this thing looks dead in the water.

But, says one wag, "Things are still in the works."

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer just appeared on WAMU-FM's Politics Hour to discuss the future of the D.C. House Voting Rights Act.

Hoyer acknowledged that "we've been distracted by the gun issue and a couple of other issues that haven't gotten as much publicity" but said he's been "talking to the mayor, talking to Vince Gray, talking to members of the city council...trying to get this done."

DCist's Sommer Mathis asked Hoyer whether he saw a way forward. "Yes, there is," he replied. "I don't want to go deeply." He did note the possibility of "taking the gun thing then getting the vote, then dealing with the gun issue as we go along"---though he said "that is not my preference."

In response to question from Tom Sherwood of WRC-TV, Hoyer said there was no "drop dead deadline" for getting the bill passed. "I don't expect we'll get past May and not get it done," he said. "Ultimately, we're going to create a sense of how we can do this."

Sherwood asked if it would help if President Barack Obama spoke out on the issue. Said Hoyer, "We're talking to the administration about that, and we're getting a read on what the city wants to do about that and what [Eleanor Holmes Norton] wants to do about that."

Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) clearly has little respect for home rule and the unique local situation of the District of Columbia---that would be why he chose to gut D.C.'s gun laws through a amendment to the D.C. House Voting Rights Act. So why should Congress respect his home state's unique local institutions?

Like legalized prostitution.

That would be the thinking of At-Large Councilmember Kwame Brown, who has penned a letter asking Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton and House majority leader Steny Hoyer to introduce something called the "Roses" amendment.

"The 'Roses Amendment,'" Brown writes, "would revise the Mann Act by prohibiting US citizens from crossing state borders to solicit sex in states where prostitution is legal. The amendment would further prohibit these states from using the Internet as a portal to advertise or solicit prostitution. Furthermore, the amendment would make it illegal to complete financial transactions where electronic data or information is shared with any entity located outside of the state for which prostitution is legalized."

Talk about hitting him where it hurts.

Brown explains his reasoning thusly: "If elected officials from states, namely Nevada, can introduce legislation that alters the local laws of the District, I believe the District should offer an amendment that imposes our moral values on such states where prostitution is legal."

As for the name of the bill? "I believe we should fight guns with roses," he writes.

Wow. Wonder what Axl would do?

The District's had plenty of congressional bogeymen over the years. Recent names like Sam Brownback and Richard Shelby come to mind, sure, and if you reach back a little farther, there's folks like Joel Broyhill, John McMillan, and Theodore Bilbo.

These days, Nevada Sen. John Ensign's playing the role pretty well.

Ensign's the guy who introduced the amendment to D.C. House Voting Rights Act last week that gutted that gun laws passed by the D.C. Council and signed by the mayor. It looks like his legislative maneuver has the potential to derail the larger bill, which would leave Ensign pleased as punch.

The senator strolled up to the Senate daily press gallery this afternoon to talk guns, voting rights and vouchers with a gaggle of reporters. LL was not present, but frequent City Desk commenter Ryan Grim was, and he passes on audio of the discussion.

Read More "John Ensign: D.C. Vote “Has Nothing to Do…With Civil Rights”" »

OK, so you're worried about that gun amendment the Senate attached today to the D.C. House Voting Rights Act?

According to LL's game-planning here, you probably shouldn't be that worried. Civics lesson time, people:

Read More "D.C. Voting Rights: It’s All About Conference Now" »

LL watched the Senate cloture vote yesterday in the press gallery beside WTOP's inimitable Mark Plotkin. We both struggled to hear the votes as they were called---helped not at all by Plotkin's stream of anecdotes stretching back well into the '70s and beyond.

Then we heard: "Senator Cochran, aye."

Thad Cochran? Republican of Mississippi? Gentleman Southerner? Certainly not a fellow anyone thought would stick his neck out for the District.

Plotkin immediately though he knew what was up: "That was Jack Evans! It worked!"

Read More "Is Jack Evans Responsible for Thad Cochran’s DCHVRA Vote?" »

The U.S. Senate is now taking roll call on a "point of order" on the constitutionality of the D.C. House Voting Rights Act.

The point was first raised this morning by Sen. John McCain. The vote essentially is on whether the measure before the Senate is out of order because it is unconstitutional; assuming the bill survives, the tally should prove to be a good indicator of the vote for final passage. (Actually, not rue at all.)

UPDATE, 2:30 P.M.: Hmm. Max Baucus, whose opposed the bill on constitutional grounds, votes not to sustain the point of order. Odd.

UPDATE, 2:35 P.M.: Point not taken, 36-62.

UPDATE, 3:15 P.M.: Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) rises to introduce retrocession amendment. Would require Maryland legislature to approve such a move, plus amendment of 23rd Amendment. It;'s the second amendment now on the floor---the first is one proposed by John Ensign (R-Nev.) that would severely restrict the District's ability to regulate gun possession.

UPDATE, 3:40 P.M.: Phil Mendelson's getting his day in the sun, sorta: Dick Durbin is approvingly reading the District's gun legislation on the Senate floor.

UPDATE, 3:42 P.M.: Oh, god---here we go: Jim DeMint, Republican of South Carolina, rises to introduce fairness doctrine amendment. Why is this related to D.C. voting rights? "This also has a lot to do with the constitution." MORE---"If we don't respect the constitution on one end, why should we respect it on the other?"

UPDATE, 3:55 P.M.: With friends like these...Not-Yet-Former-Sen. Roland Burris rises in support of DCHVRA---his second floor speech since appointment.

UPDATE, 4:30 P.M.: Oklahoma Repub, certified ideologue Tom Coburn has an amendment to abolish federal income tax in the District: "They'll have to change all the auto tags. Dunno how much that'll cost."

A press conference featuring Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Sen. Joe Lieberman, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty just wrapped up. All were in a suitably self-congratulatory mood over the D.C. House Voting Rights Act's survival of cloture earlier today.

Said Norton, "We see all lights on go, and we can say with all confidence, there's no turning back now."

Read More "More DCVRA Reactions and Explanations" »

Michael Steele, chair of the Republican National Committee, expressed full-throated support this afternoon for the D.C. House Voting Rights Act and said he was gratified that the bill passed cloture earlier today. He was buttonholed by LL as he entered the Senate wing of the Capitol with former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman.

"I think it's an important civil right for the residents of this city," said Steele, a native of Ward 4. "Having grown up here I understand how important it is to them."

And Steele pumped up the GOP's civil rights history: "We’ve always, as a party, been on the right side of that history so, hopefully, everybody will be there again.”

Read More "Michael Steele: D.C. Vote an “Important Civil Right”" »

U.S. CAPITOL---The D.C. House Voting Rights Act has passed its first test on the Senate floor, 62-34.

The roll is still being tallied, but here are some early surprises: Thad Cochran, of Mississippi voted yes, while fellow Republican Robert Bennett of Utah---a state that stands to benefit from the DCHRVA---voted no. Among the Democrats, Max Baucus of Montana, long an opponent of a District House vote, voted no just before the roll was closed.

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty appeared on the Senate floor, along with Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton. Fenty, for the most part, either chatted with Democratic members or kept to himself at the back of the floor.

Watching above in the gallery was a majority of the D.C. Council---Vincent Gray, David Catania, Phil Mendelson, Kwame Brown, Jim Graham, Mary Cheh, Muriel Bowser, and Tommy Wells all attended, as did shadow senators Michael D. Brown and Paul Strauss.

The cloture vote, which requires 60 votes for approval, clears the way for the bill's passage by the Senate, which requires a simple majority. It's quite unlikely that the tally on final passage will reach 62 ayes, since several senators had indicated that they would support cloture without actually voting for the final bill.

UPDATE, 12:10 P.M.: Here are the surprise votes: As mentioned before Utah Republican Robert Bennett voted against; the surprise yeses were from Alaska's Lisa Murkowski and Mississippi's Thad Cochran. Freshman North Carolina Dem Kay Hagan, reportedly wavering, voted in favor of cloture. These votes helped boost an aye count that suffered from the absences of Democratic Sens. Ted Kennedy and Tom Harkin.

UPDATE, 12:20 P.M.: After the vote, councilmembers, staffers, and D.C. Vote types gathered in a reception room off the Senate floor to celebrate and take a few pictures. There they met with none other than embattled Illinois Sen. Roland Burris, who seemed delighted to greet such a happy group of people. Gray invited Burris to come to the John A. Wilson Building and exchanged cards with the senator's chief of staff.

Folks snapped pictures of Burris surrounded by members of the council, which now included Michael A. Brown and Harry Thomas Jr.

After meeting with the councilmembers, Burris told LL that casting a voe for D.C. voting rights was "a great feeling, having gone to school out here [at Howard Law School]."

"Finally, it comes 50 years later," he said.

With the D.C. House Voting Rights Act set to hit the Senate floor early next week, and with House consideration likely not far behind, things are looking up enough that LL can ask the question: What happens after the bill becomes law?

Well, Eleanor Holmes Norton isn't magically transformed from delegate into full-fledged congresswoman.

Read More "D.C. House Voting Rights Act: What Happens If It Passes?" »