Hoyer To Bring DC Statehood Bill To House Floor

WASHINGTON, DC — House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said he was bringing the D.C. statehood bill to the floor of the House of Representatives next week for a vote. The legislation already has enough cosponsors for it to pass on June 26, which would make it the first D.C. statehood bill approved by a house of Congress.

"It took me some time to conclude that the only way we were going to get the citizens of the District of Columbia their right as American citizens was to support statehood," Hoyer said. "The Speaker and I have agreed on that for a long period of time that the District of Columbia citizens were not being treated fairly."

Hoyer made the announcement during a Tuesday morning press conference on Capitol Hill. He was joined by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC).

"For the first time, statehood will put an end to our oldest slogan: “taxation without representation,'" said Norton, who has sponsored a statehood bill in every session of Congress she's been a part of since 1991. "To crown that denial, D.C. residents pay the highest federal taxes per capita without equal representation. Coming in this, the third century of our nation, however, statehood means much more to us than dollars and cents. Statehood is priceless. Statehood assures that living in our nation’s capital is about pride, not prejudice."

If passed, HR 51 would provide admission for the state of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth, as the 51st state, giving the territory of the District of Columbia full representation in Congress. As the District's delegate, Holmes is not a full member of Congress. She is only allowed to introduce legislation and vote in committee. The bill already has 224 cosponsors, a number that would assure its passage when the vote is taken on June 26.

"For more than two centuries, the residents of Washington, D.C., the District of Columbia, have been denied their right to fully participate and their democracy," Pelosi said. "Instead, they have been dealt the injustice of paying taxes, proudly serving in uniform in great numbers and contributing to the economic power of our nation, while being denied the full enfranchisement, which is their right."

Pelosi pointed to the recent demonstrations in the District for racial justice and against police violence, in which federal troops were dispatched without the say of the D.C. leaders, as an example why statehood is necessary.

"We have seen a disturbing physical manifestation of that injustice when federal agents and out-of-state National Guard troops were deployed against peaceful protesters in District without residents' approval," she said.

The Trump administration's response to the demonstrators helped to raise awareness of the statehood issue across the country.

"There shouldn't be federal forces advancing against Americans," Bowser said, at Tuesday's press conference. "And they're very definitely, shouldn't be soldiers stationed around our city waiting for the go to attack Americans in a local policing matter. So, they know now that our cause for statehood is certainly about making sure we have two voting senators to speak up for us and making sure that our congresswoman has a vote and making sure that we have seats at the table when the governors and state legislatures are talking."

Bowser and her administration have also been struggling for fair treatment from Congress for funding to fight the coronavirus pandemic. Senate Republicans designated the District as a territory and not a state, when it passed the $2 trillion CARES Act in March. This meant that D.C., which has a population greater than Vermont and Wyoming, would receive $725 million less than those two states.

"I understand there have been politics throughout the years on states coming into the union," Hoyer said. "But the fact of the matter, this is about who we are as a country. Do we believe in one man, one vote; one woman, one vote? Do we believe in equal representation?"

Once the HR 51 passes the House, it will go on to the Republican-controlled Senate, where three senators signed on Tuesday to cosponsor the legislation. Hoyer hoped Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) would allow the bill onto the floor for a vote.

"This is the right thing to do for our country, for what we believe in for our Constitution," he said. "For our Declaration, all of us are created equal. Fifty-one, we'll take a step towards a more perfect union."

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