House Approves D.C. Statehood
Apr 23, 2021
People enjoy a clear warm day as the sun sets on the National Mall with with he Washington Monument see in the distance, Tuesday, April 20, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
WASHINGTON (AP) A decades-long movement to reshape the American political map took a further step Thursday as the House of Representatives approved a bill to make the nation’s capital the 51st state.
Approval came by a 216-208 vote along strict party lines. Republicans oppose the idea given that the new state would be overwhelmingly Democratic and the proposal faces a far tougher road in the Senate, where even full Democratic support isn’t guaranteed.
This map shows the federal land that would be excluded if D.C. became the 51st state. (Courtesy District of Columbia Office of Planning)
The long-standing dream of D.C. statehood took one step closer to reality Thursday when the House passed Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton’s HR 51 bill.
Now, as it faces a difficult battle for passage in the Senate, D.C. leaders are renewing their rallying cries.
“Today’s victory was historic, both for D.C. residents and for the cause of D.C. statehood,” said Norton, who has championed statehood for her entire life. “For only the second time in history, the House passed the D.C. statehood bill. With Democrats in control of the Senate and White House, and with 54% of Americans supporting the bill, we have never been in a better position to achieve D.C. statehood.”
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Associated Press WASHINGTON A decades-long movement to reshape the American political map took a further step Thursday as the House of Representatives approved a bill to make the nation’s capital the 51st state. Approval came by a 216-208 vote along strict party lines. Republicans oppose the idea given that the new state would be overwhelmingly Democratic and the proposal faces a far tougher road in the Senate, where even full Democratic support isn’t guaranteed. The legislation proposes creating a 51st state with one representative and two senators, while a tiny sliver of land including the White House, the U.S. Capitol and the National Mall would remain as a federal district. Instead of the District of Columbia, the new state would be known as Washington, Douglass Commonwealth named after famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass, who lived in Washington from 1877 until his death in 1895.
Media Credit: File Photo by Arielle Bader | Assistant Photo Editor
The passage of the legislation, which would grant congressional representation to the more than 700,000 citizens of the District, comes nearly a year after the U.S. House passed the statehood bill for the first time.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill in favor of D.C. statehood Thursday with its second vote of approval in just as many years.
In a 216 to 208 vote that split along party lines, the House passed a bill that would admit D.C. as the Union’s 51st state, granting one representative and two senators voting power in Congress and renaming the District as the “State of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth” after abolitionist Frederick Douglass. The passage of the legislation, which would grant congressional representation to the more than 700,000 citizens of the District, comes nearly a year after the House passed the statehood bill for the first time.