City Council unanimously approves move to Washington D.C. statehood with new signature campaign

From the Ballot Access News article, ‘Washington, D.C. City Council Unanimously Approves “Statehood or Else” Resolution’ by Richard Winger:

On December 1, the Washington, D.C. city council unanimously approved resolution PR21-302. It says that the city will launch a public relations campaign to gain support for statehood. The resolution points out that the District of Columbia has a greater population than either Wyoming or Vermont. It says that D.C. has a greater gross domestic product (gdp) than fourteen states.

The Mayor is directed to set up a working group by January 1, 2016, that will attempt to collect 1,000,000 signatures. The petition will then be presented to Congress and to the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, both of which are set for July 2016. This implies that the city hopes to collect the 1,000,000 signatures before July 2016. Here is the wording of the Resolution, which had been introduced on July 14, 2015.

Washington D.C. statehood from DC.gov:

Statehood is the most appropriate mechanism to grant the United States citizens who reside in the District of Columbia the full rights and privileges of American citizenship. These rights include not only equal representation in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate but also full control over local affairs.

The United States is the only nation in the world with a representative, democratic constitution that denies voting representation in the national legislature to citizens of the capital. In addition to paying federal taxes, District residents pay local taxes and bear all the responsibilities associated with citizenship. There are two states (Vermont and Wyoming) that have populations that are smaller than the District of Columbia yet they have full representation in Congress and control over their own local affairs. The District’s population is also comparable to other States including Delaware, Alaska, and several others.

The District’s budget is subject to congressional approval and must be signed into law by the President of the United States. Congress can also dictate how the District spends its own locally-raised tax revenue. Through the budget, Congress can, and has many times, controlled the implementation of local laws passed by our elected leaders and referendums approved by DC voters. DC elects a non-voting Delegate to the US House of Representatives who can draft legislation but does not have a vote. The current Delegate for the District of Columbia is Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton.

DC residents also elect two United States Senators and a United States Representative. This “shadow” congressional delegation lobbies Congress on statehood for the District. The current US Senators are Michael D. Brown and Paul Strauss. DC’s current US Representative is Franklin Garcia.