Tell your Member of Congress to support H.R. 51, Eleanor Holmes Norton’s bill to grant statehood status to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C. has more residents than either Wyoming or Vermont. But because it’s a territory and not a state, it and its residents see its interests ignored and wishes flouted on the regular.
The most egregious recent example concerns the Washington, D.C. National Guard, which is controlled by the sitting president rather than a D.C. official, such as the mayor.
Trump speedily sent the DC National Guard in against the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, but during the January 6, 2021 Insurrection, it took hours to deploy them against the Trump supporters who overran the building. As we now know, some of those supporters were determined to commit terrible violence against members of Congress.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/01/13/dc-national-guard-bowser-capitol-riot-statehood/
Giving DC the autonomy it has long asked for would take control of the DC National Guard out of the hands of the president.
It would also grant DC two Senators and a House Rep with full privileges, as opposed to a House Rep with restricted privileges, which they have now.
DC makes its preference plain on its own license plates, which sport the phase “Taxation without representation”.
Republicans have resisted elevating DC to state status because… and I know you’re gonna be so shocked here, but it boils down to politics and racism, really. DC votes overwhelmingly for Democrats and it has a large Black population. If DC becomes a state, that adds two seats to the Senate that will almost certainly remain in Democratic control.
Well, it shouldn’t be down to the Republicans. DC should have the protections and the rights of a full state, and it’s long since time they should have been elevated to statehood.
DC residents are hopeful that statehood could happen on Biden’s watch. The presidential limo, dubbed “The Beast”, now sports “Taxation without representation” license plates, which many read as a sign that the president supports DC’s aspirations.
DC’s at-large House Rep, Eleanor Holmes Norton, who is awesome, wasted no time in introducing a bill in the 117th Congress to make DC a state. It’s House Resolution (H.R.) 51, the Washington, DC Admission Act.
See GovTrack’s page on H.R. 51, which includes the text of the bill:
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/117/hr51
On January 22, Norton (@EleanorNorton) tweeted:
*Update*: I now have 208 cosponsors for #DCStatehood.
Today, we at OTYCD ask you to call your members of Congress to support H.R. 51.
“Dear <House Rep Lastname/Senator Lastname>, I am <Firstname Lastname> from <town, state>.
I am calling to ask you to support efforts to make Washington, D.C. a state.
It is long since time that D.C. was elevated to statehood. Its residents, who outnumber the populations of Wyoming and Vermont, have suffered for lacking full control over their own affairs.
The most recent example of that came during the January 6 Insurrection, when the DC National Guard did not appear for hours. Had DC Mayor Muriel Bowser controlled the DC National Guard rather than President Trump, they might have received approval to deploy to the Capitol Building much sooner. As it was, they were delayed by hours–unconscionable!
The fact that DC residents are not likely to vote Republican anytime soon should not bar it from becoming a state. It’s on the GOP to field competitive candidates there. It’ll be difficult, but not impossible.
And those people complaining that making DC a state will mess up the canton on the U.S. flag? Let the graphic designers figure that out. They’ll find a way to make 51 stars look pretty. It’s what they do.
<For your House Rep:> The bill to make DC a state, H.R. 51, now has at least 208 co-sponsors. I hope you, <House Rep Lastname,> are one of them. If not, I hope you will consider signing on and speeding its passage to becoming a law.
<For your Senators:> Right now, the bill to make DC a state, H.R. 51, is in the House of Representatives. I ask you to support its Senate counterpart once it’s created. <If the Senator is a solid Dem:> As far as I know, H.R 51 does not have a Senate counterpart. Would you consider creating it, or co-sponsoring it?
Thank you for taking my call.”
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