DC Statehood Bill Gets House Oversight Committee Hearing

On Monday, the House Oversight Committee held a hybrid hearing on H.R. 51, a piece of legislation proposed to give Washington, D.C. official statehood.

The state would be named Washington, Douglass Commonwealth to pay tribute to the abolitionist Frederick Douglass. The bill, H.R. 51, would alter the “Capital” area size, as well, making the “Capital” technically “the principal Federal monuments, the White House, the Capitol Building, the United States Supreme Court Building, and the Federal executive, legislative, and judicial office buildings located adjacent to the Mall and the Capitol Building.”

There are over 700,000 people who live in Washington, D.C. and those who are in support of the legislation potentially see it as a way to advance racial justice since many of the members of the community are people of color, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. They see those who oppose the bill as attempting to suppress votes.

Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton is the non-voting member of the House who serves as a delegate for Washington, D.C. She has been pushing for D.C. to become a state for many years.

In June 2020, the House voted to approve a bill that would make Washington, D.C. the 51st state in the country. The bill passed 232 to 180, but didn’t get any further along since the Senate was controlled by Republicans and they were expected to strongly oppose the proposal.

The 2020 vote was the first time a vote was held on the issue in the Congress since 1993, according to NPR reporting. While advocates were excited about the number of votes in 1993, it still didn’t pass. Norton discussed the 1993 decision last year when the House passed her bill in a historic vote.

“It failed then because the House was dominated by Southern Democrats who tended to be conservative on many issues. We were pleased to have them as Democrats, but we could not pass that bill,” she said. “…So times change, and they have changed remarkably, and they are ready now, it seems certainly in the House, to make the District the 51st state.”

“All we’re looking for is equality with other Americans, especially since we pay the highest federal taxes per capita in the United States,” Norton told NPR recently, noting how she does not have the ability to vote in Congress, and the district does not have two senators like other states.

In her opening statement issued in a press release on Monday, Norton said,

D.C. residents have fought in every American war, including the war that led to the creation of the nation, the Revolutionary War. The servicemembers from our nation’s capital have helped get voting rights for people throughout the world, but continue to come home without those same rights or even the same rights of those with whom they served.

The Senate would need 60 favorable votes to pass the legislation due to the filibuster rule. A vote of confirmation in the Senate is unlikely as many Republicans oppose the idea because the district is very left-leaning. It is the only “non-state” that can vote in presidential elections as decided by the 23rd Amendment that was ratified in 1961. The district provides 3 electoral votes and has voted overwhelmingly for Democrats in every presidential election since 1964.

NBC News reported that at the hearing on Monday, the two sides debated the issue, with opponents of the bill claiming that it is unconstitutional, while those in favor of it stated that the residents of Washington, D.C. deserve the right to have the same representation as residents of other states.

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