Day 7: Introducing S.51
On this International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Senator Tom Carper (D-DE) announced that he introduced S.51, a bill for the admission of the State of Washington, D.C. to the Union. It was, since yesterday, read twice and then sent to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
“Our nation’s capital is home to more than 700,000 Americans who, despite our nation’s founding mantra — ‘no taxation without representation’ — pay their share of taxes without full voting representation in either chamber of Congress,” said Carper, Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, via a statement from his office. He’s introduced the legislation in every Congress since 2013.
This share of taxes — along with the other costs of lack of representation — have been paid by District residents since her formation.
“In fact, despite paying more in federal taxes per capita than citizens of any of the 50 states, D.C. residents have no say in how those taxes are actually spent,” Carper continued. “This isn’t a Republican or Democratic issue; it’s an American issue.”
Said Senator Van Hollen (D-MD), one of the 38 other co-sponsors of the Washington, D.C. Admission Act, “For far too long the people of the District of Columbia have been denied their right of self-governance … The need for urgent action has only been underscored by recent events — the Congress must stop trying to impose its will and substitute its judgment for the people of the District of Columbia.”
Yesterday, Janet Yellen became the first woman sworn in — by Vice President Kamala Harris, to boot — as Secretary of the Treasury.