To provide for the admission of the State of Washington, D.C. into the Union.

The House introduced H.R.51 - Washington, D.C. Admission Act. The bill would designate the District of Columbia as the 51st state and grant full representation to the over 700,000 Americans who live in the District. The House has considered D.C. statehood before, with a failed floor vote in 1993. Eleanor Holmes Norton currently represents the District as a nonvoting delegate. But if it were granted statehood, its citizens would be represented by two senators and one representative in the House.

Those in favor of D.C. Statehood argue the city's residents pay the highest federal taxes per capita and yet don’t have voting representatives in Congress. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) has said making the District of Columbia a state is a civil rights issue since approximately 46% of the District's residents are people of color. Norton said, “My great-grandfather, who escaped as a slave from a Virginia plantation, Richard Holmes, made it as far as the District of Columbia. A walk to freedom — but not to equal citizenship." Rep. Hoyer (D-MD) also said, “If DC were a state, it could not be shortchanged as it was under the CARES Act and its residents would be protected from the kind of civil rights violations we saw in Lafayette Square, all for the purpose of a photo op. This is not just an issue of local governance and fairness. It is a major civil rights issue as well. We must bring to an end the disenfranchisement of 700,000 American citizens….This is the right thing to do for our country, for what we believe in, for our Constitution, for our Declaration. All of us are created equal. Fifty-one will take a step towards a more perfect union.” Supporters feel that keeping D.C. from becoming a state is undemocratic and unacceptable. They say it is time for the residents of D.C. to finally have their representation with their taxation. 

Opponents argue this is nothing more than an attempt by Democrats to gain two Senate seats and one House seat. That if it were truly about representation, then simply give the land back to Maryland. Those against argue that the Constitution mandates a district to house the federal government and so the territory was designed to be neutral so no state could claim they housed the head of the government and potentially influence it. If the territory were to be reduced it would include just a few buildings near the National Mall. But they point out it is not that simple because under the Twenty-Third Amendment, the handful of people who would still be living in that tiny district would still get three electoral college votes in presidential races. That overrepresentation would need to get fixed by repealing the Twenty-Third Amendment. Opponents also say that D.C. residents may complain about not having representation in Congress and being taxed but they don’t understand what becoming a state would really mean for them. In fiscal year 2016, the federal government paid for the costs of running D.C.’s court system, a total of $274 million. If D.C becomes its own state they would then have to find a way to fund the cost of running the courts, prisons, and everything else on their own, which more than likely means even higher taxes than they are paying now. Many people feel that if those living in Washington D.C. do not agree with the taxes they pay and the lack of representation then they can move just a few miles away to a neighboring state where they get both. 

Do you think Congress should make Washington D.C. the 51st state?