On March 13, the US House Committee on Oversight and Governmental Reform passed the bill to expand the size of the US House from 435 to 437 members. The District of Columbia would get one of the new seats, and Utah would get the other (at least until after the 2011 census). Now the bill goes to the House Judiciary Committee. The vote in the Oversight Committee was 24 to 5 in favor, with 6 Republicans voting in favor along with all Democrats.

Republican US Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska surprised most political-watchers this morning by announcing nothing. It had been widely reported that he would be announcing his candidacy for President at a news conference this morning.

Instead, he announced that he would not be making any announcements or decisions on his political future until later this year.

Hagel had recently hinted that he might consider running as an independent, rather than as a Republican, and had favorably mentioned Unity08. Hagel is best known as a vocal opponent of Bush’s Iraq policy who has grown increasingly antiwar in the past year. In spite of this, Hagel is also the Senator who voted most often with the White House in 2006.