Support for granting Statehood to D.C. has again gained momentum as 175 House representatives and 29 representatives in the Senate are now in favor of statehood for D.C.
Since D.C. is not a state of U.S., over 700,000 residents of the district are without voting representatives in Congress, which also deprives them of fully controlling affairs in the local government. The Congress also has powers to overrule laws passed by the D.C. Council which are signed by the mayor.
Washington, D.C. Statehood Office thanked U.S. Member of Congress Mike Doyle for supporting D.C. Statehood in the House. “Thank you @USRepMikeDoyle for supporting the 700,000+ #DC residents who deserve to be heard! Support for #DCstatehood is breaking records and has reached an all-time high with 175 Reps in the House and 29 in the Senate!,” the D.C. Statehood Office tweeted.
Eleanor Holmes Norton, Member of the U.S. Congress representing the District of Columbia also thanked Doyle for supporting the bill. “Thank you @USRepMikeDoyle for cosponsoring our #DCStatehood bill, bringing us to 90% House Democrats!,” Norton wrote in a tweet. “Our cosponsors are responding to millions of Americans who are fighting with us for equal citizenship for D.C. residents, the only Americans who pay fed taxes w/out representation.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and local officials have been consistently pushing for D.C. statehood. In 2015, the Mayor launched a campaign for D.C. Statehood. According to the campaign website, the residents of Washington, D.C. have been fighting for equal rights and voting representation in Congress for over 200 years, and 244,134 (86%) of D.C. voters.
A referendum on statehood which was carried out in Washington, D.C. in November 2016 had shown that 86 percent of D.C. residents supported statehood for the residents of D.C.
Alex Mayer, a United Kingdom Labor Party member had also come out in support of D.C. Statehood. “The citizens of D.C. are denied the basic rights that others living in liberal democracies take for granted. It is time that this 200-year injustice was ended,” Mayer said at a plenary session of European Union in September, calling the body to recognize the voting rights of D.C. residents.
Thank you @USRepMikeDoyle for supporting the 700,000+ #DC residents who deserve to be heard! Support for #DCstatehood is breaking records and has reached an all-time high with 175 Reps in the House and 29 in the Senate! https://t.co/GvgYwATydQ
— DCstatehood51 (@DCstatehood51) October 16, 2018
A political movement called District of Columbia Statehood movement has been demanding that D.C. be made a State of U.S. as at present D.C. is a federal district that comes under the direct jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress. If the District is granted Statehood, D.C. would not only get voting representation in the Congress, it would also have full control on its local affairs.