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[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E155]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
INTRODUCTION OF THE WASHINGTON, D.C. ADMISSION ACT
______
HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON
of the district of columbia
in the house of representatives
Friday, February 7, 2020
Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, the Committee on Oversight and Reform is
preparing to hold the first markup of the District of Columbia
statehood bill in either chamber of Congress since 1993, when I got the
first-ever floor vote on the bill. I rise today to introduce a revised
version of the bill, the purpose of which is to make technical and
conforming changes and to address transition issues.
On January 3, 2019, the first day of this Congress, I introduced H.R.
51, the Washington, D.C. Admission Act, which has 224 cosponsors, a
record for the D.C. statehood bill and far more cosponsors than most
bills passed by the House. The bill I introduce today includes the text
of H.R. 51, but makes technical and conforming changes to the text,
provides transition assistance to the new state and establishes a
transition commission to assist with the orderly transition to
statehood and to a reduced federal district. The D.C. statehood bill is
well within the authority of Congress, and is in compliance with the
Admissions and District clauses of the Constitution, as well as the
23rd Amendment.
While the Constitution does not establish prerequisites for admission
of states into the Union, Congress has generally considered three
factors: commitment to democracy, support for statehood and requisite
population and resources for the state to support itself. The District
meets each prerequisite. The District has a larger population than two
states, pays more in federal taxes than 22 states and pays more in
federal taxes per capita than any other state. D.C. has a higher per
capita personal income and gross domestic product than any state. In
November 2016, over 86 percent of District residents voted in favor of
an advisory referendum requesting that the D.C. Council petition
Congress for statehood.
Congress has two choices. It can continue to exercise undemocratic,
autocratic authority over the 705,000 American citizens who reside in
our nation's capital, treating them, in the words of Frederick
Douglass, as ``aliens, not citizens, but subjects.'' Or it can live up
to this nation's promise and ideals, end taxation without
representation and pass the Washington, D.C. Admission Act.
Since the founding of the nation, District residents have always
carried all the obligations of citizenship, including serving in all of
the nation's wars and payment of federal taxes, all without voting
representation on the floor in either house of Congress or freedom from
congressional interference in purely local matters. The bill I
introduce seeks to end this unequal treatment and give the residents of
the nation's capital their full rights as American citizens.
I strongly urge my colleagues to support this bill.
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