Congress has approved the bill, but it is likely to face opposition in the Senate • If the move is completed, the state will be the first where most residents are not white
Will the bill pass?
Capitol Hill in Washington
Photo:
Getty Images
The House of Representatives today (Thursday) passed a bill calling for the capital, Washington, D.C., to be the 51st state in the United States to become the 51st state of the United States. Gaza in the Senate, where each party holds 50 seats.
For supporters of this bill, it is a simple matter of civil rights: in Washington, DC.
About 700,000 people live, more than Vermont (about 623,000) and Wyoming (about 582,000).
While these three states have two senators and a single representative in the House of Representatives, today the capital Washington has one congressional member (in the House of Representatives) that does not have the right to vote.
The same representative - Eleanor Holmes Norton - is the one who introduced the bill, under which the official name of the new state would be "Washington State, Douglass Commonwealth" (or in English: State of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth) in the name of Frederick Douglas, a former slave and warrior In African-American slavery and human rights.
If this bill passes in the Senate as well, the new state will become the first American state where most residents are not white.
According to the United States Census Bureau in 2019, 45.4% of the city's residents define themselves as black or African-American, while 37.3% are whites of non-Hispanic descent.
The city of Washington, founded in 1790 to serve as the capital of the United States, does not belong to any state.
The 13 founding states of the United States did not want one of them to enjoy preference as a result of the capital being inhabited, so Virginia and Maryland allotted a small area defined as the independent "District of Columbia," on which the city of Washington was founded.
According to the US system of government, the president is elected by electors - special representatives that only states are allowed to appoint.
Since Washington does not belong to any state, for many years its residents could not participate in the presidential election.
In 1961, the 23rd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was approved, allocating three electors to the District of Columbia even though it is not defined as a state.
However, residents of the district where the capital is located do not yet have representation in the Senate and House of Representatives.
If Washington becomes a state, its residents will win two seats in the Senate and one in the House of Representatives.
In protest of this lack of representation, the city's license plates bear the caption "Taxation Without Representation" - a pun based on the slogan of the American revolutionaries against British rule in America: "No Taxation Without Representation".
Since the US President's limousine is registered in Washington, the subversive slogan also appears on its license plate.
