Washington, DC, to become the 51st state
The population of the United States capital is more than 700,000, making it larger than Wyoming or Vermont. It pays the highest rate of federal taxes per capita of any state. However, because Washington, D.C. is not a state, it does not have a vote in Congress, among other things. A decades-long campaign to transform Washington, D.C. With Democrats in the power of Capitol Hill and the White House, the 51st state may have its best shot today. Despite the fact that the House passed statehood legislation on a party-line vote on April 22, Republican opposition to forming a new state that would be consistently Democratic means it will likely remain a pipe dream.
The fact that Washingtonians can smoke marijuana but not buy it reflects the state's peculiar political situation. The District of Columbia is a federal jurisdiction because America's founders did not want a state government to have too much power over the capital. Its 700,000-plus residents—more Americans than living in Wyoming or Vermont—have no voting representation in Congress, and their municipal budget must be approved by lawmakers more than two centuries later. Following the passage of the ballot proposal, a congressional rider was inserted into the District of Columbia's budget prohibiting officials from using federal or local monies to legalize or regulate the market.
"This country was founded on the principles of no taxation without representation and consent of the governed," Del stated. "However, D.C. residents are taxed without representation and cannot consent to the laws that they must live under as American citizens." Eleanor Holmes Norton, a non-voting delegate from the District, was on the House floor before the vote.
Her bill for statehood, H.R. 51, which would shrink the federal district and create a new state with two U.S. senators and a representative, putting residents on an equal footing with voters in other states, would reduce the size of the federal district and create a new state with the remaining territory with two U.S. senators and a representative, putting residents on an equal footing with voters in other states. Statehood supporters argue that the cause is also about racial fairness. Washington, D.C., if admitted, would be the first state with a majority of Black residents.
Unfortunately, republicans continuously oppose the statehood of Washington, D.C. As an alternative, some Republicans have proposed retroceding the district to Maryland, which would theoretically give district residents a voting representative in the House but would not result in the addition of two new senators. Several House Republicans supported retrocession during the measure's debate before the vote on Thursday, and a bill to merge the district into Maryland has been filed.
However, the people of the District and Maryland are opposed to this option. Norton stated in a statement on retrocession in February that 86 percent of D.C. residents voted in favor of statehood in a referendum in 2016.
On Wednesday, Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen told reporters, "The people of D.C. have made it very clear they want self-determination; this is supposed to be a democracy."
Statehood supporters say that the district's party makeup should not play a role in the decision. They feel that every American should be concerned about the 700,000 citizens who do not have voting representation in Congress, and that statehood should be sought for equal rights.
"We're not talking about giving rights to people simply because of what their descriptive characteristics may be, we're saying they deserve these rights because they too are American," Perry said.
Moving forward
President Biden has repeatedly expressed support for D.C. statehood, the White House formally called on Congress to "provide for a swift and orderly transition to statehood for the people of Washington, D.C."
"For far too long, the more than 700,000 people of Washington, D.C., have been deprived of full representation in the U.S. Congress," a statement from the Office of Management and Budget said. "This taxation without representation and denial of self-governance is an affront to the democratic values on which our Nation was founded."
Cannabis Sales
Washington, D.C. would remain barred from legalizing the sale of marijuana under a congressional spending plan.
City leaders hoped that a Democratic majority in Congress would overturn a federal budget rule that has barred the city from legalizing recreational cannabis sales since 2015.
District voters supported a ballot proposal to legalize marijuana use in late 2014, but due to a federal budget rider inserted by Republican Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, local leaders have been unable to set up a tax and sale business.
The inability of D.C. to control marijuana sales has long been a rallying cry for D.C. residents. Proponents of statehood Neighbors United for D.C. was formed by Josh Burch. proponents of D.C. statehood said in an email to Axios. On Capitol Hill, proponents of statehood are "unwilling to battle" for the local authority.
"We will continue to focus on making D.C. the 51st state since only statehood frees us from our opponents' malice and our allies' vulnerabilities," he wrote.
Operators of marijuana pop-up shops, which usually sell goods such as art or juice and "gift" marijuana to patrons for free, defend their industry and believe it can serve as a foundation for a future legal pot sales market in the nation's capital.
