Norton Says New GAO Report Demonstrates D.C.’s Lack of Statehood Cost it Tens to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars in FY 22 Earmarks

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today said that the Government Accountability Office's report on the enacted fiscal year (FY) 2022 earmarks demonstrates that the District of Columbia's lack of statehood likely cost D.C. tens to hundreds of millions of dollars in FY 2022 earmarks. While Norton received a similar amount of FY 2022 earmark funding as other House members, D.C. had no senators to request earmarks in the Senate. For example, Vermont, which has a smaller population than D.C., received $193 million more than D.C. in FY 2022 earmark funding, and Alaska, which has only 62,000 more residents than D.C., received $234 million more than D.C. in FY 2022 earmark funding.

"While D.C. generally is treated as a state for federal funding, since D.C. pays the same federal taxes as states, including more federal taxes than 23 states and more federal taxes per capita than any state, there are instances where D.C.'s lack of statehood, particularly its lack of Senate representation, has cost it substantial funding," Norton said. "This Government Accountability Office report is only the latest example of why it is long past time for the Senate to pass my House-passed D.C. statehood bill."

Norton noted another recent example of D.C. being shortchanged. Last Congress, the CARES Act, which was drafted by the Republican-led Senate, treated D.C. as a territory instead of a state for coronavirus fiscal relief, depriving D.C. of $755 million. This Congress, Norton was able to get D.C. that $755 million in the American Rescue Plan.

FY 2022 was the first year Congress allowed earmarks in more than a decade. Small states whose full congressional delegation requested earmarks, especially those with senior members on the Senate Committee on Appropriations, received a disproportionate amount of earmark funding.

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