Norton Thanks Senator Carper for Introducing Companion to Norton’s D.C. Statehood Bill Today with Top Four Senate Democratic Leaders as Cosponsors
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said she was enormously grateful to Senator Tom Carper (D-DE), ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC), for introducing today the companion to her bill to grant the District of Columbia statehood with a record 17 original cosponsors, including the top four Senate Democratic leaders: Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Whip Richard Durbin (D-IL), and Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Patty Murray (D-WA). HSGAC has jurisdiction over D.C.
"Once Senator Carper promised me he would introduce the D.C. Statehood bill in the Senate last Congress, I knew it would happen," Norton said. "When Senator Carper chaired the committee, he made history by holding the first-ever Senate hearing on D.C. Statehood. Today, as ranking member, he once again demonstrated his commitment to equal rights for D.C. residents by reintroducing his statehood bill. We are enormously grateful. I am particularly delighted that he took the time and care also to attract a historic number of original cosponsors, including Senate leaders. With today's bill and its cosponsors, Senator Carper has sent the same message we tried to send when I gathered a record 93 original cosponsors. With Democrats in the Senate and House undaunted in the fight to make the District the 51st state, residents have a strong foundation to build our movement here and nationwide."
At the beginning of this Congress, Norton introduced her bill to make the District the 51st state with a record number of original cosponsors (93), and it currently has a record number of cosponsors (120). Other cosponsors of the Senate bill include Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Chris Coons (D-DE), Al Franken (D-MN), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Ed Markey (D-MA), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). Last September, the Senate held its first-ever D.C. Statehood hearing and the first congressional hearing on D.C. statehood in over 20 years. In July, President Obama announced his support for D.C. statehood.
Norton got the only House vote on D.C. statehood in 1993. Almost two thirds of Democrats and one Republican voted for the bill, giving D.C. statehood a strong start; however, Democrats lost the majority in the next Congress. Since that vote, Norton was able to get the D.C. House Voting Rights Act through the House in 2007 and the Senate in 2009, which would have given D.C. a voting House member. That bill was derailed by an amendment that would have wiped out D.C.'s gun safety laws. Since then, the energy of residents, who gave strong support to the efforts in 2007 and 2009, has been focused on statehood and budget autonomy.