House adopts bill to make D.C. 51st state

WASHINGTON >> The Democratic-controlled House approved a bill Friday 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.’’

Lawmakers approved the bill, 232180, largely along party lines, marking the first time a chamber of Congress has passed a D.C. statehood bill. Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson was the sole Democrat to oppose the bill. No Republican voted for it.

The legislation now goes to the Republican-controlled Senate, where it faces insurmountable opposition from GOP leaders.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the district’s non-voting 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 1 million, she said. The city’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.

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 greatgrandfather 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.’’

The bill would create a new state of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth, in honor of the Virginia-born first president and the Maryland born abolitionist and former slave.