House moves to OK DC statehood; Senate GOP opposes bill

WASHINGTON — The Democratic-controlled House is moving toward approval of a bill to make the District of Columbia the 51st state, saying Congress has both the moral obligation and constitutional authority to ensure that the city’s 700,000 residents are allowed full voting rights, no longer subject to “taxation without representation.’’

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the district’s nonvoting representative in Congress, sponsored the bill, saying it has both the facts and Constitution on its side.

D.C.‘s population is larger than those of Wyoming and Vermont, and the new state would be one of seven with populations under one million, she said. Washington D.C.‘s $15.5 billion annual budget is larger than those of 12 states, and D.C.’s triple-A bond rating is higher than those of 35 states, Norton said.

Opponents, mostly Republicans, called the bill a power grab for the firmly Democratic city, and said the nation’s founding fathers intended the capital to be separate from the other states.

“This is about power. Make no mistake about it,’’ said Rep. Chip Roy, RTexas. The bill would “fundamentally alter what D.C is,’’ he added.

Norton, who has served as D.C. delegate since 1991, said the issue is deeply personal for her and thousands of other city residents who have long been disenfranchised. Her great-grandfather Richard Holmes escaped slavery at a Virginia plantation and “made it as far as D.C., a walk to freedom but not to equal citizenship,’’ she said. “For three generations my family has been denied the rights other Americans take for granted.’’

Congress has two choices, she added. “It can continue to exercise undemocratic, autocratic authority over the 705,000 American citizens, treating them, in the words of Frederick Douglass, as ‘aliens, not citizens, but subjects.’ Or Congress can live up to this nation’s promise and ideals, end taxation without representation and pass” the statehood bill.

The House vote would mark the first time a chamber of Congress has passed a D.C. statehood bill, but the legislation faces insurmountable opposition in the GOP-controlled Senate.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., blasted the bill ahead of the House vote. In a Senate speech, he dismissed Washington, D.C., as a city with little more to offer than lobbyists and federal workers.

“Yes, Wyoming is smaller than Washington by population, but it has three times as many workers in mining, logging and construction, and 10 times as many workers in manufacturing,” Cotton said. “In other words, Wyoming is a well-rounded workingclass state.”

Cotton also criticized Democrats for prioritizing the D.C. statehood vote while there is “mob violence” in the streets. Recent protests near the White House required “force by federal law enforcement officers under federal control,” he said.

“Would you trust Mayor Bowser to keep Washington safe if she were given the powers of a governor? Would you trust Marion Barry?” Cotton added referring to D.C.’s current and former mayors, both Black.

Cotton’s remarks stirred outrage on social media, with many describing the remarks as racist. D.C. has a large African American population and was once known as “Chocolate City,’’ although it is no longer majority Black.

Supporters said the bill has become even more important in the aftermath of protests for racial justice in both Washington and across the nation.