Photo by Mr.TinDC

From the Mayor’s Office:

“Today, Mayor Muriel Bowser testifies before the House Oversight and Reform Committee at a hearing on the Washington, D.C. Admission Act (H.R. 51).

Below is the Mayor’s full testimony, as prepared for delivery.

Chairman Maloney, Ranking Member Comer, and members of this esteemed Committee, on behalf of the 712,000 residents of the District of Columbia, I thank you for convening this hearing on H.R. 51, the Washington, D.C. Admission Act. In particular, we thank you for shepherding this measure to passage during the 116th Congress; and we respectfully seek your support to marshal it to passage again.

I want to especially thank our Congresswoman, Eleanor Holmes Norton, who has championed equality for Washington, DC throughout her tenure, while skillfully delivering jobs, opportunity, and greater self-determination.

I am Muriel Bowser, Mayor of Washington, DC, and I am honored to come before this committee to ask Congress to right the wrong that happened some 220 years ago when the residents of the District of Columbia were stripped of their full congressional representation.

Two years ago, in the 116th Congress, I came before this committee under the leadership of the late Elijah Cummings to dispel erroneous arguments, against DC Statehood. These are the bad-faith arguments we hear time and time again: Read More

From Senator Tom Carper’s Office:

“U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), a senior member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC), is, once again, leading a group of Democratic senators in re-introducing legislation to grant Washington, D.C. statehood. The bill, which Senator Carper first introduced in 2013, would make Washington, D.C. the 51st state, finally give its citizens full representation in Congress, and also ensure that the citizens and elected leaders of the District of Columbia have full authority overlocal affairs, including crucial safety and security matters. The Washington, D.C. Admission Act (S.51) would also designate the areas surrounding the White House, the Capitol, the Supreme Court, and the National Mall as the seat of the federal government. That area would inherit the name the “Capital” and remain under the control of Congress, as mandated by the Constitution. Read More

Photo by Olaf Zerbock

You can talk about whatever is on your mind – quality of life issues, a beautiful tree you spotted, scuttlebutt, or any random questions/thoughts you may have. But please no personal attacks and no need to correct people’s grammar. This is a place to vent and/or celebrate things about daily life in D.C.

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Photo by Mandi Marie

Thanks to Mandi for sharing the: “Update on the Adams Morgan countdown clock.”

And in other projections, check out the Cathedral tonight: Read More

Dan Rather not mincing words last night:

“I suspect if Washington DC was a Republican stronghold Mitch McConnell would long ago have made it a state with pious history lessons about “taxation without representation.”

Photo by Elvert Barnes

From the office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton:

“Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) released the following statement today in response to three anti-District of Columbia statehood bills introduced in the House during the last two weeks. Two of the three bills push to retrocede D.C. to Maryland. The third bill purports to limit the composition of the Senate to senators who are from states admitted to the Union prior to the 116th Congress, the current Congress. Read More

New Hampshire and M Street, NW

Timing, again, feels right to remind folks of our Democracy Tree. It was planted in 2000.

“This Tree is dedicated to the more than half million veterans, taxpayers, and citizens of the District of Columbia who, despite fighting in foreign wars, paying their full measure of taxes and faithfully serving their country, continue to have no voting representation in the Congress of the United States of America.

“Taxation without Representation is Tyranny”

Foundry Democracy Project, Foundry United Methodist Church”

Here’s to hoping we are able to change the name to The 51st State Tree soonest.

Awesome. Thanks to Sean for sending:

“We are on social distance-friendly vacation in Little Compton, Rhode Island. I was riding my bike with my son along a random gravel road. I stumbled upon a small farm with tons of DC love! They even have a flag on their barn. Very cool. Very random.” Read More

Photo by Morgan Barna

From the Mayor’s Office:

“Today, Mayor Muriel Bowser issued the following statement after the House of Representatives voted 232-180 to pass the Washington, D.C. Admission Act (H.R. 51), the first time a chamber of Congress has approved a bill to make the District the 51st state.

Today, with this historic vote, DC is closer than we have ever been to becoming the 51st state.

More than 160 years ago, Washingtonian Frederick Douglass told us: Power concedes nothing without a demand. As Washingtonians and as taxpaying American citizens, we are demanding what is owed to us – the rights guaranteed to us by the U.S. Constitution.

It is past time to fix this injustice. It is true that DC is more brown and more liberal than many other states. But the issue of taxation without representation was settled more than 200 years ago through the Declaration of Independence, and disenfranchising more than 700,000 taxpaying Americans is wrong no matter our politics or demographics. Who we elect is our business, and denying us statehood based on who we might send to Congress is both undemocratic and un-American. Read More

Photo by Jim Havard

From Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton’s office:

“Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today managed the historic debate on the House floor on her District of Columbia statehood bill (H.R. 51) . In her opening statement on the bill, Norton said, “As we approach July 4th, it is long past time to apply the nation’s oldest slogan, ‘no taxation without representation’ and the principle of consent of the government to D.C. residents.”

Norton’s opening statement, as prepared for delivery, follows.

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton
Floor Remarks on H.R. 51, the Washington, D.C. Admission Act
June 26, 2020

The United States is the only democratic country that denies both voting rights in the national legislature and local autonomy to the residents of the nation’s capital. As we approach July 4th, it is long past time to apply the nation’s oldest slogan, “no taxation without representation,” and the principle of consent of the governed to District of Columbia residents. H.R. 51 would do so, and Congress has both the moral obligation and constitutional authority to pass the bill.

H.R. 51 would admit the State of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth into the Union and reduce the size of the federal district. Read More