The bill passed the House for the first time last June with a 232-180 vote, marking the first time in history a chamber of Congress has ever passed such legislation. "Now, we carry that momentum into 2021 with renewed hope and a president who knows our struggle and supports our cause." "2020 was a historic year in our fight to become the 51st state with the first-ever House passage of a statehood bill," Bowser said in a statement Sunday. Mayor Muriel Bowser also voiced her continued support for Norton's bill. "I look forward to building on our historic momentum."ĭ.C. "This is the most important bill I introduce each Congress, and it made historic strides in the last Congress," Norton said in a statement. 51, on the first day of the new Congress. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) wasted no time in re-introducing the Washington, D.C. statehood begins anew, but the path to statehood for the District will still face many hurdles.ĭ.C. The start of a new Congress means the legislative push for D.C.
Members of the 117th Congress were sworn into office on Sunday. Eleanor Holmes Norton celebrated the statehood bill's passage through the House outside the Capitol Building in June 2020. weight with people in Congress who are wondering what to do about D.C. "And the analysis of these constitutional law professors from all over the United States, all recognized from their top law schools is likely to carry some. It said none of the critics' objections to the admission of the district as a state were meritorious, none of them were meritorious," Holmes Norton said. "I thought that the analysis was particularly helpful because it did not hedge. Eleanor Holmes Norton, who represents the District of Columbia as a nonvoting member of Congress, told ABC News she thinks the letter could help convince undecided lawmakers to sign onto the bill. Admission Act calls for a proper exercise of Congress' express authority under the Constitution to admit new states, a power that it has exercised 37 other times since the Constitution was adopted."ĭel. Admission Act are meritorious and the contention that a constitutional amendment is required to admit the Commonwealth into the Union is incorrect," the letter said. "In sum, none of the critics' constitutional objections to the D.C. MORE: House votes to grant statehood to District of Columbia is a majority-minority city and the people of the city deserve the same opportunity that other less-populated states have to make their voices heard in Congress," Booker said. Cory Booker, D-N.J., argued that the district's statehood is also a civil rights issue given the demographics of the district. "The second-class status must come to an end." "The reality is that these citizens pay the most - get this, get this - the citizens of the District of Columbia pay the most in per capita federal income taxes in the U.S., more than any other state, but they have no say in how those dollars are spent. Tom Carper, D-Del., who has led the charge for the district's statehood in the Senate, said the issue should transcend the political divide as it is one of "basic fairness and equality." Democratic lawmakers took to the Senate floor Tuesday to argue in favor of statehood days after nearly 40 legal scholars sent a letter to congressional leadership outlining the constitutionality of the District of Columbia becoming the 51st state.
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