D.C. Statehood
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
D.C. Statehood is a political campaign intended to grant the District of Columbia the full privileges of a U.S. state. Such privileges include not only full voting rights in the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate, but also full control over its own local affairs.
For more regarding the first controversy, see District of Columbia voting rights. For more regarding the second, see District of Columbia home rule.
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[edit] Advocates
The statehood agenda represents one end of a spectrum, the other being the status quo before 1974 (when D.C. gained limited home rule and an elected mayor). In the District, this position has been carried by the D.C. Statehood Party, a minor party; it merged with the local Green Party affiliate to form the D.C. Statehood Green Party. Many members of other political parties also support statehood.
[edit] History
Some aspects of the D.C. Statehood agenda were achieved with the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, passed in 1973. Still more were encompassed in the District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment, which passed Congress in 1978 but failed to be ratified by a sufficient number of states to become an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The deadline for ratification of the D.C. Voting Rights Amendment passed in 1985.
Two years later, in 1980, local citizens passed an initiative calling for a constitutional convention for a new state. In 1982, voters ratified the constitution of the state, which was to be called New Columbia. Since that time, legislation to enact this proposed state constitution has routinely been introduced in Congress, but has never been passed. The last serious debate on the issue in Congress took place in November 1993, when D.C. statehood was defeated in the House of Representatives by a vote of 277 to 153.
[edit] Alternatives
Many alternative proposals to outright statehood have been proposed. It is possible that the state of Maryland could take back the land it ceded for the District, as Virginia took back the land it ceded in 1846 (present-day Arlington County and part of Alexandria). Such an action would require an act of Congress and approval from the State of Maryland. This would make residents of the District residents of a State without granting the District statehood per se. Other suggestions include allowing voting rights in the House of Representatives, but not in the Senate, to reflect what some view as the uniquely non-state status of the District.
