Chairwoman Maloney's Opening Statement [PDF]

Congresswoman Norton's Opening Statement [PDF]

Washington D.C. (Mar. 15, 2021)—On Monday, March 22, 2021, at 11:00 a.m., Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, the Chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, will hold a hybrid hearing on H.R. 51, the Washington, D.C. Admission Act, introduced by Committee Member Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton on January 4, 2021.

H.R. 51 would admit the State of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth into the Union and reduce the size of the federal district.  The bill has 212 cosponsors and an identical version was passed by the House of Representatives in the 116th Congress.

Currently, 712,000 residents of the federal district, known as the District of Columbia, are denied political representation.  Despite this, the District of Columbia pays more in federal taxes than 21 states and more per capita than any state.  

The hearing will discuss the three prerequisites Congress has generally considered in admission decisions as well as Congress’s constitutional authority to admit the District of Columbia as a state and reduce the size of the federal district.