House Democrats are moving onward with their commit to add the District of Columbia as the 51st state of the union. Now this time around they have supportive leaders within the Senate and also the White House on their side.
D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton has predicted earlier this year “there’s never been a time when statehood for the District was more likely.”
The first steps will begin on Monday, when the House Committee on Oversight and Reform will hold a hearing on Norton’s 51st state legislation, aptly titled H.R. 51, the Washington, D.C. Admission Act.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, whose goal was to have pushed a statehood bill on President Biden’s desk within his first 100 days in office, is going to be among the witnesses testifying. President Biden is supportive of D.C. becoming the 51st state.
Bowser has framed statehood as a civil rights issue where taxpaying U.S. citizens are disenfranchised for the last 200 years and denied democracy.
With Democrats having control of the House, the Senate and therefore the White House, Bowser said in January that the momentum toward statehood is “a promising sign that our country is finally able to right this historic wrong.”
D.C. statehood had already passed the House last June but it failed within the GOP-led Senate. House leadership is committed to observing statehood for a vote again this year and 214 Democrats have co-sponsored the legislation — or simply about all of the Democratic caucus which sits at 220 members currently.
With the Senate now in Democratic hands, Senator Tom Carper, D-Del., is leading the attempt there for statehood. So far, his statehood legislation has 40 of the 50 Democratic senators signed on as co-sponsors. However, without changing the legislative filibuster, Carper would want the support of a minimum of 10 Republicans to fulfill the 60-vote threshold to advance — an uphill climb in an exceedingly divided Senate.
D.C. incorporates a population of over 700,000 residents ‒ greater than Wyoming and Vermont ‒ but the residents haven’t got voting members in Congress or full control over local affairs. However, the District of Columbia pays more in federal taxes than 21 states and more per capita than any state, consistent with the 2019 IRS data book.
Under the plan, the 51st state would be called “Washington, Douglass Commonwealth,” named for Frederick Douglass.
D.C. would have full control over local affairs and full representation in Congress, which might amount to 2 senators and one representative within the House supported the present population.
The area round the White House, Capitol, Supreme Court and National Mall would be carved out into a administrative district controlled by Congress and named the “Capital.”
Republicans are firmly against D.C. statehood, calling it a Democratic power grab designed to tip the balance within the Senate in favor of Democrats by adding two senators from a liberal stronghold.
During the hearing Monday, Republican House members will have one witness, Zack Smith of the Heritage Foundation.
GOP members will say H.R. 51 is unconstitutional and lift concerns about Democrats’ failure to think about the sensible and financial implications of D.C. statehood, D.C.’s “radical” policies and also the progressives’ political motives behind D.C. statehood, per a Republican Oversight Committee aide.
“D.C. statehood is all about Speaker Pelosi and liberal Democrats consolidating their power to enact radical policies nationwide just like the Green New Deal, packing the Supreme Court, and eliminating the filibuster,” said Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the highest Republican on the oversight committee.
Comer said H.R. 51 “is a dangerous political power grab that may ensure more government intrusion into Americans’ daily lives.”
The push for statehood comes after House Democrats passed H.R. 1, an enormous restructuring of election and campaign finance laws that Republicans also panned as an influence grab. That legislation now sits within the Senate, where it also requires 60 votes to advance.
H.R. 1 would set federal guidelines for elections like automatic voter registration; restoring voting rights to felons after they need completed their sentences; and expanding early voting access and absentee voting. The legislation also allows voting without an identification card if a voter signs a written statement attesting to their identity, under the penalty of perjury.