DC Statehood Vote in House of Representatives Scheduled For Next Week

• June 16th 2020

by Nena Perry-Brown

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Not only have the persistent protests in DC (and cities nation- and worldwide) drawn more attention to police brutality and racial injustice, the federal deployment of armed forces in DC earlier this month also drew more support for the cause of DC statehood. Now, the House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on statehood later this month.

The House Majority Leader, Maryland's Steny Hoyer, has scheduled a vote on statehood for DC for June 26th, the Washington Post reports. Criticism of the federal response to the protests in DC has compelled more sponsors for statehood legislation as Mayor Muriel Bowser has leveraged the opportunity to speak out about the city's lack of autonomy and voting rights.

Statehood would relegate the nation's capital to a two-square-mile "federal enclave" surrounding the Mall and various federal government buildings, while the remainder of the city would likely become the state of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth. Earlier this month, DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and Representative Marcia Fudge of Ohio introduced a bill to redesignate the city's political leadership with state honorifics (eg. "governor" instead of "mayor", "legislative assembly" instead of "council").

The statehood bill passed the House Oversight & Reform committee in February; the bill is still expected to fail in the Senate.

Thumbnail photo from Ted Eytan.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/house-of-representatives-scheduled-for-full-vote-on-statehood-later-this-mo/16963.