*All eyes will be on Capitol Hill Monday as the House Committee on Oversight and Reform will hold a hearing on the District of Columbia statehood bill.
The bill filed is identical to the one filed in the previous Congress that passed the House but was not voted on in the then-GOP controlled Senate. This time, D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton has more co-sponsors than any other previously filed D.C. statehood bill. It’s also gaining popularity among Americans.
“These hearings are telling the American people what they don’t know. The more they find out what they don’t know, the more they come toward statehood. Our goal is to raise that 54 percent even higher after this hearing,” said Holmes Norton.
What she thinks folks are just now finding out is that D.C. residents pay more per capita to the federal government than any other state and the fact that D.C. has more residents than Vermont and Wyoming, yet it does not get a vote in Congress, even on matters that only affect the District, said Norton. Thus – taxation without representation.
If D.C. becomes a state, a 51st star getting added to the American flag as what was done to a number of flags the Bowser administration placed along Black Lives Matter Plaza and Pennsylvania Avenue, won’t be the only change.
“Our whole legislature is going to change. We’re going to be able to control our criminal justice system, so what is that going to look like?” said
Oye Owolewa. “We’re also going to have to change our infrastructure, how our laws, our council’s going to change, so so many different things. We’re also going to get a governor.”
Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen is pushing for residents to use noisemakers to “show off your D.C. pride” at 8:30 am ahead of the hearing.
Below, Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton spoke about the importance of D.C. statehood Friday (Mar 19) on MSNBC.
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