Washington DC’s mayor and Democrats in the Congress made their case for the United States’ capital emphasising the disenfranchisement of DC residents on Monday. 

Highlighted as one of the last violations of civil rights in America, more than 712,000 people live in the District of Columbia. It has a population larger than Vermont and Wyoming. 

People from Washington are allowed to cast their votes in the presidential elections but are denied the right to vote in Congress. Washingtonians, who have fought and died in US wars,  also have to pay a higher federal tax than the residents of the other 50 states.  

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Democrats frame the bill as an overdue remedy to disenfranchisement perpetuated since Congress made Washington the nation’s permanent capital in 1790, and a longstanding civil rights issue for a city that is nearly 50% black.

Chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney said, “Every American deserves a voice in their own government. Taxation without representation was the battle cry of our revolution, and it is still a battle cry,” in her opening statement at the hearing for a bill that could make Washington DC the 51st state.

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The DC statehood measure would give the capital two US senators and a voting representative in the House.

The Democratic Party has a stronghold over Washington DC and the bill is expected to pass the House but will likely be blocked by the Republicans in the evenly divided Senate. 

54% of likely voters nationwide believe that Washington DC should be a state according to a recent poll done by Data For Progress.

Eleanor Holmes Norton, who represents the district in the House as a non-voting delegate said during the hearing, “we have never been closer to statehood,” as Democrats control the White House, Senate and the House of Representatives.  

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser who, like Norton, is Black, homed in on the debate’s racial component, noting at the hearing that early moves to right the injustice of no congressional representation were “replaced by racist efforts to subvert a growing and thriving Black city.

“The disenfranchisement of Washingtonians is one of the remaining glaring civil rights and voting rights issues of our time,” he said.  

Many supporters of DC statehood gathered around on the streets and near the US Capitol on Monday with placards that said “51 in ’21!” and “No more wait for a DC state!” and city authorities even posted American flags with 50 stars instead of the official 50. 

In a historic vote, the House passed the symbolically-titled bill HR 51 which would create the state of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth, named after the 19th-century abolitionist Frederick Douglass. But the measure died in Republican-controlled Senate. 

Now with the Democrats in majority, the bill has been revived. 

Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters last Thursday that President Joe Biden supports the initiative.   

“He believes they deserve representation, that’s why he supports DC statehood,” she said. 

House Republican Jody Hice said during the hearing, “DC statehood would mean a money grab from neighbouring states, and a power grab by the United States Senate, all done in an impractical and unconstitutional fashion.”

Republicans countering the initiative say that the bill counters the intent of the US Constitution’s framers who endeavoured to create a unique federal district not influenced by any state and believe any DC statehood initiative must be done through a constitutional amendment.