Update: House Passes Historic DC Statehood Bill

WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. House of Representatives passed a historic D.C. statehood bill Friday afternoon on a 232-180 vote. This is the first time either house of Congress has passed a bill that would make the District of Columbia a state.

H.R. 51: The Washington D.C. Admission Act would allow the District to join the U.S. as the 51st state. The measure heads to the GOP-controlled Senate, where the bill has 34 co-sponsors.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said he does not support statehood, and President Donald Trump said he would veto the measure, according to The Washington Post.

Shortly before 2 p.m. ET, the House conducted a vote count of the recommit with instructions motion that was proposed earlier in the day. This had delayed the final vote for several hours. The vote count was taken, the motion failed, and the bill moved forward for the final vote.

"For the first time in our country, we are going to pass a bill in the House of Representative that says those who happen to live within these three corners and a river are full citizens of America and should be accorded, therefore, the full rights of citizenship in our country," said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), who introduced the bill on the House floor.

He called the bill long overdue not only for the representation and self-government of the District but also for advancing a key civil rights issue.

"We say that Black Lives Matter," Hoyer said. "For too long in our history, Black lives have not mattered. Some people will say, All Lives Matter. Yes they do, but Black lives have been taken for granted for too long in this country. We're doing a bill today that will try to redress some of that grievance."

Currently, the District does not have full representation in Congress, even though its 700,000 citizens pay federal taxes. The District has no U.S. senators and, while Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) does represent the District in the House, she can only vote in committee.

If passed and signed into law, H.R. 51: The Washington D.C. Admission Act would admit the District into the U.S. on equal footing as the 51st state, with full representation in Congress. The new state would be called the state of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth, in honor of President George Washington and Frederick Douglass, considered the father of the civil rights movement.

"We are grateful for the vote tomorrow, but we also know that our work will not be done," D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said Thursday. "I do not let any member of the Congress off the hook, regardless of party or regardless of the house. There is time to pass our bill in the Senate, and we want to call for a vote on our bill."

Bowser added that if the process in the Senate goes into next year, she wanted to make sure the vote on D.C. statehood would be within the first 100 days of the next administration.

In addition to the bill's five Senate co-sponsors, 29 other senators have already thrown their support behind the bill.

RELATED:

Hoyer To Bring DC Statehood Bill To House Floor

Check Out Georgetown Artwork That's Part Of #MuralsDC51 Movement