JUST IN: House Votes to Approve Statehood for Washington, DC

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The House of Representatives voted to approve statehood for Washington, D.C. on Thursday by a slim vote along party lines.

The Washington, D.C. Admission Act passed the chamber by eight votes, 216-208, with two House Democrats and four Republicans abstaining. The proposal would grant the nation’s capital two senators, along with a voting member in the House. The district presently holds a non-voting delegate to the House, a role Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) has filled since 1991.

The Constitution technically prohibits Congress from granting statehood to the United States capital, so any change would typically require a two-thirds vote — including 67 votes in the Senate. The legislation, also known as H.R. 51, reduces the number of required votes to a simple majority by proposing that most of the 69-square-mile region be carved out and reconstituted as a new state, which would be named Washington, Douglass Commonwealth.

The bill will now head to the Senate, where Republicans and Democrats each control 50 seats. All but one Democrat — West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin — have signed on as cosponsors, which means it faces an uphill road to passage before it can reach President Joe Biden’s desk.