Washington ? As Maryland joins Illinois in halting executions because of concerns over flaws in the capital punishment system, congressional support is growing for new protections against putting innocent inmates to death, and a majority of the GOP-controlled House now backs federal safeguards.

Supporters announced Tuesday that 230 House members have signed on as co-sponsors of a measure that would give all state and federal prisoners, including those not sentenced to death, easier access to DNA testing to prove claims of innocence. The legislation also would provide new protections targeted at defendants in death penalty cases, including nationally set minimum competency standards for their court-appointed attorneys.

Sixty Republicans are co-sponsors, including such well-known conservative death penalty supporters as Reps. Dan Burton of Indiana and Phil Crane of Illinois.

However, it is unclear whether the legislation will receive approval from the House Judiciary Committee, which is necessary for the bill to reach the House floor.

A spokesman for Judiciary Chairman Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., said Sensenbrenner has not yet decided whether to allow the committee to consider the measure.

The House legislation would work mostly by conditioning some federal law-enforcement grants to state governments on adoption of safeguards against executing innocent prisoners.

For example, states would be denied a portion of prison-construction funds unless they provide adequate counsel to capital defendants. Grants for DNA-related law-enforcement programs would require that states preserve biological evidence gathered at crime scenes and make DNA testing available to indigent inmates.