WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.),Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) on Wednesday hosted a virtual hearing to examine why Washington, D.C. should become the country’s 51st state.
The hearing entitled “Statehood and Equality for Washington, D.C.” focused on the statehood process outlined in the Washington, D.C. Admission Act, as well as the need to provide voting representation in Congress and full local self-government to the more than 700,000 residents of the current District of Columbia.
“For far too long the people of the District of Columbia have faced taxation without representation. And the need for urgent action has only been further underscored by recent events. The District has been denied the basic right of self-governance even though its residents pay more in taxes than 22 other states – and the population of D.C. is greater than Wyoming and Vermont. The message we heard today was clear – now that the House has acted, Republican Senate Majority Leader McConnell must immediately bring this bill up for Senate consideration. It’s time for Republicans to stop treating the citizens of the District of Columbia as second class citizens and recognize their most basic right to have voting representation in the Senate and House,” said Van Hollen.
Van Hollen is an original cosponsor of the Washington, D.C. Admission Act, which would admit the new State of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth as the 51st state of the United States and reduce the size of the federal district. On June 26, 2020, the House of Representatives voted to approve the House version of the bill, introduced by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) by a vote of 232-180 on June 26, 2020 – marking the first time a chamber of Congress has passed a bill establishing D.C. statehood.
“D.C. deserves statehood. It has long met the criteria that we’ve applied throughout our history for becoming a state,” said Kaine. “Making D.C. the 51st state is about protecting the civil rights of hundreds of thousands of Americans. I’m proud to support this effort.”
The Senators heard testimony from Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), Mayor Muriel Bowser, Monica Hopkins with the American Civil Liberties Union, Rick Lee, the owner of Lee’s Flower and Card Shop, and James Nelson Rimensnyder, veteran and lifelong D.C. resident.