There are more residents of Washington D.C. than the entire state of Wyoming, but Republicans have established their fierce opposition to admitting the nation’s capital as a state, even though well over half a million American citizens live there without as prominent of a voice in the nation’s government as the one held by millions of other Americans. Now, the Biden administration itself says that they “strongly” support currently on deck legislation that would admit D.C. as a state, rectifying its under-representation in government.
The legislation that the Biden administration expressed support for already has 217 House members — including the non-voting member who represents D.C. — with on-the-record support for the plan. The White House Office of Management and Budget issued a new statement reading as follows:
‘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. 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 statement added that admitting D.C. as a state “will make our Union stronger and more just,” noting that the city is home to “a diverse population of Americans from all walks of life who are entitled to full and equal participation in our democracy.” Read the full statement from the White House below:
White House officially endorses D.C. statehood –> pic.twitter.com/n3joF2sPoK
— Kevin Robillard (@Robillard) April 20, 2021
The path forward for the legislation is unclear — although it enjoys apparently almost universal backing from House Democrats, the Senate’s filibuster rule, which mandates the agreement of 60 Senators in the 100-member chamber before moving to final votes on most legislation, could pose a problem. Democrats control the Senate, but they only have 51 votes in the chamber thanks to Vice President Kamala Harris’s role as a tiebreaker.
Meanwhile, Congressional Democrats have been preparing for votes on an infrastructure spending package proposed by the Biden administration including, among other elements, new federal financial support for roadways, green energy, broadband in rural areas, and more.
