White House Endorses Bill to Grant Statehood to Washington D.C.

 

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The White House has announced its support for a new bill calling for Washington, D.C. to be recognized as America’s 51st state.

The Office of Management and Budget released a statement on Tuesday with an official endorsement for the H.R. 51 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. 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…The Administration looks forward to working with the Congress as H.R. 51 proceeds through the legislative process to ensure that it comports with Congress’ constitutional responsibilities and its constitutional authority to admit new states to the Union by legislation.

The bill is expected to be put up for a House vote on Thursday. Granting statehood to D.C. has been a longtime party-line issue though, and the chances that Democrats will get enough Senate Republicans to back the bill are remote.

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