Supporting Statehood for Washington, DC
Adopted at the in 2019
WHEREAS, the United States is the formal union of states formed by their people and to have the full rights of self-government, one must be a citizen of a state; and
WHEREAS, no other nation in the entire world denies the right of self-government, including participation in its national legislature, to the residents of its capital and several international human rights organizations have found that the District's lack of voting representation in Congress violates international law; and
WHEREAS, the Constitution only sets a maximum size for the "Seat of the Government of the United States," otherwise known as the District of Columbia, and Congress, with the consent of the Commonwealth of Virginia and local residents, reduced the size of the District of Columbia in 1846, when it returned one-third of the District to Virginia; and
WHEREAS, Congress in the 1973 District of Columbia Self-Government and Government Re-organization Act, (the "Home Rule Act") has already carved out the federal core of the District, including the White House, Capitol, Supreme Court, Mall and monuments, as the National Capital Service Area and such area can constitutionally be the "Seat of the Government of the United States"; and
WHEREAS, statehood only requires a simple majority vote in each house of Congress and the President's signature and is the only form of self-government that Congress cannot amend or take away; and
WHEREAS, in 2016, 86 percent of the citizens of Washington, DC voted overwhelmingly in favor for statehood; and
WHEREAS, the District of Columbia is home to over 702,000 residents, which is more than the states of Wyoming and Vermont; and
WHEREAS, residents of Washington, DC are required to and do perform all the obligations of United States citizenship including serving in the military, serving on federal juries, and paying federal taxes; and
WHEREAS, the residents of Washington, DC have no voice over what wars are declared, how their federal tax contributions are spent, how their taxes are to be collected, and how any of the vital national issues affecting residents on a daily basis are to be resolved; and
WHEREAS, 29,000 residents of Washington, DC are veterans yet do not have any voting members of Congress to represent them; and
WHEREAS, District residents pay the highest federal income tax per capita when compared to residents of any of the 50 states, amounting to $38,000 per person in 2015; and
WHEREAS, the District has passed 23 consecutive balanced budgets, achieved a "triple A" bond rating in 2018 and maintains enviable cash reserves. Washington, DC's $15.5 billion local budget is funded by mostly local taxes and fees; and
WHEREAS, Washington, DC operates as a city, county, and state government and already performs the tasks and duties assigned to states, including administering state health and human service programs, federal block grant programs, a Department of Motor Vehicles, an education system, transit and transportation systems, and public safety and homeland security duties; and
WHEREAS, Congress has total control over Washington, DC's policies, including the ability to overturn laws enacted by the District's duly-elected Council and passed by referendum with the support of a majority of residents and has the ability to make changes to the spending of locally-raised dollars by inserting riders on DC's budget; and
WHEREAS, the Washington, DC Admission Act H.R. 51 / S. 631 has a record 204 and 32 cosponsors respectively; and
WHEREAS, The United States Conference of Mayors advocates for the power of local control for municipalities and their governments; and
WHEREAS, The United States Conference of Mayors supports full democracy for all residents in the United States of America; and
WHEREAS, as early as 1979, and again in 2016, The United States Conference of Mayors called for full voting rights for the citizens of the District of Columbia,
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that The United States Conference of Mayors urges the Congress to use its powers under Article IV, Section 3 of the United States Constitution and admit the residential and commercial areas of the District of Columbia, minus the National Capital Service Area which shall henceforth be the Seat of the Government of the United States, as the 51st State of the Union.