The district lacks fair representation, Senator Tom Carper said.
This past week, a group of senators reintroduced legislation that would give statehood to the District of Columbia. The bill was led by Senator Tom Carper of Delaware who first introduced it in 2013. If passed, D.C. would become the 51st state. Senator Schumer is a co-sponsor of the legislation.
The pro-statehood argument is that 700,000 U.S. citizens who live in the District are denied what their fellow citizens in the 50 states have: representation in Congress.
Others say the only way to give statehood to the District of Columbia is by a Constitutional Amendment. The Constitution provided for a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Congress; and that the district is not part of any U.S. state.
Presently, the District has a non-voting Delegate to the United States House of Representatives, Eleanor Holmes Norton. She may serve on committees, introduce legislation, speak on the House floor, and is afforded other privileges; however, she is not permitted to vote on the final passage of any legislation.
Constitutional amendments may be processed either by Congress with two-thirds majority vote in both the House and Senate, or by a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of state legislatures. None of the 27 amendments to the Constitution have been proposed by constitutional conventions. Once approved in Congress, the National Archivist submits the proposed amendment to the States for their consideration. The state governors follow their own state laws to ratify or reject the proposed amendment. The amendment becomes part of the Constitution when ratified by three-fourths of the States.
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For members of Congress to weigh carefully any Constitutional amendment that would create more states.
- For the purposes of God to be accomplished through the actions of Congress.
Sources: Boston Globe, Daily Caller, Heritage Foundation, The Hill
