The White House released a statement Tuesday saying that President Joe Biden‘s administration fully supports the District’s bid for becoming the 51st state of the United States.
“The Administration strongly supports H.R. 51, the Washington, D.C. Admission Act. 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,” said the statement in reference to the DC statehood bill that will be voted in the House this week.
“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,” it added.
The disenfranchisement of Washingtonians is one of the remaining, glaring civil rights issues of our time.#WeAreDC and we demand full citizenship with two senators and a voting member in the House of Representatives.
Thank you @POTUS for supporting #DCStatehood. pic.twitter.com/hJKFEiZ2Hc
— Mayor Muriel Bowser (@MayorBowser) April 20, 2021
The passage of the bill would “make our Union stronger and more just,” according to the Biden administration, which said the rich and diverse population of the city are entitled to equal participation in the nation’s democracy and called for “the Congress to provide for a swift and orderly transition to statehood for the people of Washington, D.C.”
In response to the release, Mayor Muriel Bowser tweeted a message, saying “Thank you @POTUS for supporting DC statehood.”