Washington, Douglass Commonwealth

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Yesterday Congress moved one step closer to making Washington, DC, the nation's 51st state.  The House Oversight Committee voted along party lines, 25 Democrats in favor and 19 Republicans opposed, to advance the bill to the full House for a vote.  That vote, on what is being called "HR 51," will be held next Monday.  

The new state would be officially known as "Washington, Douglass Commonwealth," in honor of Frederick Douglass.  It would consist of 66 of the 68 square miles of land that currently comprise the District of Columbia, with two square miles - those including the White House, Capitol, and the National Mall, retaining their status as an independent federal district.

Article IV, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to admit new states to the Union.

HR 51 is expected to pass the House along party lines on Monday, and it will then move to the Senate for consideration where it currently has 46 Senate co-sponsors.  Republicans in the Senate are expected to try and amend the bill into something that Democrats could not support, and then to vote against the measure anyway in party lockstep.  President Biden has said that he will sign the statehood bill if it makes its way to his desk.

Twenty-two Republican state attorneys general have declared that they will head to court to fight DC statehood if Congress approves the measure.

Supporters of making Washington, DC, a state argue that the new state would have a population of over 700,000 people, making it more populous than the existing states of Wyoming and Vermont.  Currently those 700,000 people are only represented by a non-voting delegate in the House (she can vote in committees, but not on the floor of the House as an actual member), and they have no representation at all in the Senate. 

The supporters label opposition to DC statehood as just one more attempt by some to control who gets to vote and be represented in our democracy.

Supporters of the measure also note that residents of Washington, DC, pay more in federal taxes than twenty-one states - and more per capita in federal taxes than the citizens of any other state.  (Source:  2019 IRS data book)

Opponents of the measure label it a "power grab" by Democrats whose main goal would be to place two additional Democratic senators in the US Senate as well as an additional House member who also would likely be a Democrat.

One Republican said that it was an attempt by liberals to create a "socialist utopia."

Unspoken, but a fact on everyone's mind, is the reality that the new state would be the only state in the nation with a plurality of black citizens.  Some Republican politicians have tried to instill a fear that the new state would somehow be more likely to attract racial strife and rioting and that the government of the new state would not adequately protect existing federal buildings and federal personnel within its borders.  Others are quick to note that it was police from Washington, DC, who ultimately quelled the rioters who attacked the Capitol on January 6th - when the Capitol Police couldn't and the US military wouldn't.

Next week it will all begin to clarify:  either 700,000 plus individuals who live within the physical confines of the United States of America will move toward full representation in the government that they are already funding and protecting, or they won't.  Taxation without representation will begin coming to an end for the good Americans living in Washington, DC, or it won't.

It's not a power grab, its representative democracy - a system of government that the rest of the country has been enjoying for centuries.  The residents of Washington, DC, have served long enough in democracy's purgatory, and it's time they were granted full citizenship.

Congress, get 'er done!