Liberal and conservative Democrats are squaring off over a D.C. gun bill designed to satisfy the National Rifle Association (NRA). But it’s a fight some say the liberals are doomed to lose, at least in the House.

While a bill supported by liberals will likely win a committee vote Wednesday, leadership is clearing a path for the NRA bill to get a floor vote, where it would likely pass, said two sources familiar with the negotiations.

A bill nearly identical to the NRA bill has 240 co-sponsors, so if it gets a vote, it is expected to pass. Sources said the process will be set up by the House Rules Committee, which is controlled by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

If that’s how it occurs, it will mean that Pelosi has approved the deal, even if she votes against it.

At an Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing Tuesday on the two bills, Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) chuckled at the heated rhetoric about Second Amendment rights and protecting the capital from terrorism, saying it masked what is really going on behind the scenes.

“I feel for you. I’ve been where you are,” Davis, who chaired the panel in the past, said to Chairman Waxman. “We all know your leadership has cut a deal.”

It’s well-known that Reps. John Dingell (D-Mich.) and John Tanner (D-Tenn.) negotiated a deal to get a vote on the NRA bill after the recess. Republicans had worked with the powerful gun lobbying organization on a “discharge petition” to get a bill to the floor that capitalized on the June Supreme Court decision overturning the District of Columbia’s decades-old gun ban.

A discharge petition is a parliamentary move that undercuts the leaders of the majority by allowing a majority of the House to move a bill that leaders or a committee chairman is bottling up. The NRA had threatened to “score” the petition on its annual rankings, so that conservative Democrats who declined to defy their leaders could lose their A-plus ratings from the NRA.

The NRA and Republicans say that the District government is dragging its feet in implementing the June ruling nixing the city’s handgun ban.

But Norton said the NRA bill is undermining public safety in the city she represents. She found a friend in Waxman, whose committee has jurisdiction over the bill.

At a hearing Tuesday, Waxman railed against allowing more guns in the capital city, a terrorist target where police are constantly guarding national leaders and foreign dignitaries.

“The district is a target-rich environment,” Waxman said. “Next Jan. 20, the next president of the United States will be sworn into office. I don’t know if that person will be Sen. Obama or Sen. McCain. But I do know that if the NRA bill becomes law, protecting him will be vastly more difficult.”

Supporters say such rhetoric is overblown, that the bill simply lets D.C. residents use guns to protect themselves by keeping firearms in their homes.

“The letter and intent of the legislation is nothing more than implementing the decision of the Supreme Court,” said chief lobbyist for the NRA Chris W. Cox. “Anyone who suggests that this allows carrying weapons outside the home is lying or hasn’t read the bill.”