Activists hold signs as they take part in a rally in support of DC statehood near the US Capitol in Washington, DC on March 22, 2021.
Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images
The Biden administration on Tuesday formally threw its support behind a long-shot bid from Democrats to make Washington, D.C., the 51st state.
Congress should “provide for a swift and orderly transition to statehood” for the more than 700,000 Washington residents who do not have full voting representation in the House and Senate, the Office of Management and Budget said in a statement of administration policy.
The White House’s full-throated support for D.C. statehood came days before the House is set to vote on a bill that would put the commonwealth on “equal footing with the other states.”
The legislation, H.R. 51, is expected to pass in the House, but is likely to hit roadblocks in the Senate, where 60 votes are required to overcome the filibuster.
“The residents of our nation’s capital deserve voting representation in Congress and full local self-government,” said Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington’s Democratic delegate in the House and the bill’s sponsor, in a statement applauding the OMB.
“With Thursday’s House vote and expected passage, along with Democratic control of the Senate and White House, we have never been closer to statehood,” she said.
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