Ian Patrick, FISM News
In January of this year, FISM News reported on a bill introduced by Tom Carper (D-DE) which aimed to give Washington D.C. representation in both houses of Congress, thereby making it the official 51st state in the Union. The Washington D.C. Admission Act (now known as H.R. 51) has now passed the House on Thursday along party lines, with a final tally of 216-208 and 6 no votes.
This is the second time this legislation has passed through the House in the past two years. It has been introduced every year by Carper since 2013, and passed in 2020 and now in 2021.
U.S. House PASSES DC Statehood legislation, 216-208.
Goes now to the U.S. Senate. pic.twitter.com/M1AzKDJndB
— CSPAN (@cspan) April 22, 2021
D.C. Statehood has been a contentious issue, since it would be giving representation to the seat of the U.S. government. Democrats typically support the measure while Republicans typically vote against it, as is the case in this strict party-line vote.
However, this time the executive branch is throwing its support behind the legislation. In a statement from the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, Biden’s administration gives its official support to give “full representation” to D.C.
For far too long, the more than 700,000 people of Washington, D.C. have been deprived of full representation in the U.S. Congress. This taxation without representation and denial of self-governance is an affront to the democratic values on which our Nation was founded. H.R. 51 rights this wrong by making Washington, D.C. a state and providing its residents with long overdue full representation in Congress, while maintaining a Federal District that will continue to serve as our Nation’s seat of government.
The bill now moves to the Senate, which will need 60 votes to become law. Not all Senate Democrats have shown support for it, meaning it may die in the chamber as it did in 2020.