Rep. Payne, Jr. Votes for D.C. Statehood

Washington, D.C. — Congressman Donald M. Payne, Jr. voted for the Washington, D.C. Admission Act today.  The bill (H.R. 51) would create a new state from the current District of Columbia named Washington, Douglass Commonwealth and a separate federal district that would contain the government buildings on or near the Capitol Mall and Capitol Building, such as the White House and Supreme Court.

“I voted for this bill because the people who live in Washington, D.C. deserve full representation in the House of Representatives and the Senate,” said Congressman Donald M. Payne, Jr.  “The country was founded on the belief that there would be no taxation without representation.  We have violated that tenet for years where it concerns the American citizens of the District of Columbia.  I thank my colleague Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton for her tireless work to represent her constituents and get them the voice in Congress they so clearly deserve.”

If passed in the Senate, the new state would become the 51^st one added to the republic.  There is a strong case for admittance.  The United States is the only democratic country that denies both voting representation in the national legislature and full self-government to the residents of the capital.  Residents in D.C. pay more in federal taxes than 22 states and pays more in federal taxes per capita than any state.  The population of D.C. (705,000) is larger than the populations of Wyoming and Vermont.  In addition, seven states had populations under one million in the last census and D.C.’s budget ($15.5 billion) is larger than the budgets of 14 states,

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