Norton Gets Findings Supporting D.C. Statehood Included in Democrats’ Sweeping Pro-Democracy Reform Bill, H.R. 1
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today announced that Norton got a breakthrough findings section supporting District of Columbia statehood included in the House Democrats' major democracy reform legislation, H.R. 1, the For the People Act of 2019. Norton thanked Representative John Sarbanes (D-MD), chair of the Democracy Reform Task Force and lead sponsor of H.R. 1, and the Democratic leadership for including the findings in Democrats' first major bill of the 116th Congress. The findings section states, in part, that "District of Columbia residents deserve full congressional voting rights and self-government, which only statehood can provide."
"I thank House Democratic leaders and Representative Sarbanes for supporting statehood in the Democrats' major democracy reform legislation with strong findings laying out the moral and legal cases for making the District the 51st state," Norton said. "This findings section provides new and potent support to D.C. statehood by including it among the many democratic reforms included in H.R. 1, such as strengthening our voting systems and ensuring every American has access to the ballot."
Norton yesterday introduced her D.C. statehood bill (H.R. 51) with a record 155 original cosponsors. House Committee on Oversight and Reform Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-MD) committed to holding a hearing and markup on H.R. 51 in 2019.
Below is the full text of the findings section regarding D.C. statehood.
Subtitle C—Findings Relating to District of Columbia Statehood
SEC. 2201. FINDINGS RELATING TO DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA STATEHOOD.
Congress finds the following:
(1) District of Columbia residents deserve full congressional voting rights and self government, which only statehood can provide.
(2) The 700,000 residents of the District of Columbia pay more Federal taxes per capita than residents of any State in the country, yet do not have full and equal representation in Congress and self government.
(3) Since the founding of the United States, the residents of the District of Columbia have always carried all the obligations of citizenship, including serving in all of the Nation's wars and paying Federal taxes, all without voting representation on the floor in either Chamber of Congress or freedom from congressional interference in purely local matters.
(4) There are no constitutional, historical, financial, or economic reasons why the 700,000 Americans who live in the District of Columbia should not be granted statehood.
(5) The District of Columbia has a larger population than two States, Wyoming and Vermont, and is close to the population of the seven States that have a population of under one million fully represented residents.
(6) The District of Columbia government has one of the strongest fiscal positions of any jurisdiction in the United States, with a $14,600,000,000 budget and a $2,700,000,000 general fund balance, or surplus.
(7) The District of Columbia's total personal income is higher than that of seven States, its per capita personal consumption expenditures is higher than those of any State, and its total personal consumption expenditures is greater than those of seven States.
(8) Congress has authority under article IV, section 3, clause 1, which gives Congress power to admit new states to the Union, and Article I, Section 8, Clause 17, which grants Congress power over the seat of the Federal Government, to admit the new State carved out of the residential areas of the Federal seat of Government, while maintaining as the Federal seat of Government the United States Capitol Complex, the principal Federal monuments, Federal buildings and grounds, the National Mall, the White House and other Federal property.