Not too long ago, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives voted for a bill that would make Washington, D.C., the 51st state. The vote was divided cleanly along party lines – all Republicans voted no – and was 232–180. This is partially because making Washington, D.C., a state would guarantee Democrats two free senators, but there are other reasons, too.
Republicans have long opposed Washington, D.C., statehood. Every since the Twenty-third Amendment was ratified, granting Washington, D.C., three Electoral College votes, the District has voted Democratic in every single presidential election (the District and Minnesota were the only two regions not to vote for Ronald Reagan’s reelection in 1984, and the Republicans have consistently lost by a margin of at least 54% each election). The Republicans would understandably oppose statehood. It would essentially grant the Democrats two free senators and one free representative.
The Democrats, however, argued that there were legitimate reasons as to why the District should become a state. The first reason is due to “taxation without representation” – under the current system, citizens of the District do not get any representation in Congress at all (they only get one nonvoting delegate in the House), yet they have to pay full taxes to the federal government. It is important to remember this wasn’t so much of a problem when the District was created back in the late 1700s (we’ll get into why it was created later). Only 8,000 people lived there, so it wasn’t a major problem if they didn’t get representation. However, over 700,000 people live in the district, which is a similar amount to the number of people that live in Wyoming or Vermont.
In addition, besides not getting any voting power in Congress, citizens of D.C. are governed by the federal government and Congress because they don’t have their own local governments. This means that any laws that apply to D.C. are decided without any input from D.C.’s citizens (as they cannot vote in Congress).
Obviously, the clear reason that Democrats are so for D.C. statehood is that it would basically grant them two free senators, which is a huge deal. (It is unclear if D.C. becoming a state would give the Democrats an advantage in the House, though. As there can only ever be 435 representatives, D.C.’s representatives would have to come from somewhere.)
However, there are major arguments against D.C. statehood. The major reason against D.C.’s statehood is that it goes against the original intention of excluding D.C. from a state. When the United States was still young, James Madison, a key player to the nation’s growth in early years, argued that the nation’s capital, where the federal government is located, must be distinct from the states. This was to prevent any state government from having control over the federal government. For example, a state government could pass a law repealing a federal law for its own interests.
Therefore, the founding fathers decided that keeping the District separate from any state would be beneficial for its own maintenance and safety. This problem, could, however, be solved by eliminating Capitol Hill and other main federal buildings from the new state.
Also, because the District is established in Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution, making D.C. a state could possibly require a constitutional amendment. This would essentially mean that D.C. could not be made a state through a law passed by Congress.
An alternative solution would be to avoid making D.C. a state and simply assign senators and representatives to D.C. This would eliminate the problem of “taxation without representation” and would also allow the federal government to continue to operate independently from any state.
Granting Washington, D.C., statehood would also likely open the doors to making Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories a state. As of right now, despite being full U.S. citizens, people living in Puerto Rico (a territory of over three million people) and other territories cannot vote for president and do not get any congressional representation.
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