D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) took her fight for District voting rights to the Senate, where she testified today before a committee considering a bill to give the city a voting representative in the House.

Norton became emotional during her speech saying the bill means a "great deal to me personally." She said her great-grandfather, Richard Holmes, an early District resident "came searching not for a vote but for freedom."

Now, she said, the District's residents deserve to have a vote as well, and she rebuffed the argument that it would be unconstitutional. She also said that giving the District a full vote in the House would not change the Senate's makeup.

"Only the House is affected," she said. "Your house is not affected. If you don't want to do it for us, do it for the House. Do it for Utah, who feels outraged. I don't care how you do it."

Norton's compelling testimony came less than a month after she made the same argument in the House, convincing her fellow colleagues to approve a bill giving the District its first full seat in Congress. As the District's delegate, Norton can vote in committee but not on the floor.

The hearing, before the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, headed by Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.), is the first step toward Senate approval.

"Giving the residents of D.C. voting representation in the House is not only the right and just thing to do; it has popular support," Lieberman said. "Nonetheless, we do not have an easy road ahead of us in Congress. Opponents of this legislation contend that the Constitution prohibits granting House representation to the District of Columbia."

Norton appeared with Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va) and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D). The legislation, sponsored in the House by Norton and Davis, would add two seats to the House -- one for the District, which is overwhelmingly Democratic, and one for Utah, which is heavily Republican.

Hatch said that his state is home to one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas and that the legislation is long overdue.

"I have heard from many District residents who believe strongly that their voices should be heard in Congress," Hatch said. "They pay taxes, vote in presidential elections and serve in the military. Yet, more than a half a million Americans do not have a full voting representative in Congress. . . . This legislation would end such inconsistency."

Lieberman said he plans to have the committee mark up the bill by early June.