Day 92: Earth Passes Statehood
On this, the 51st Earth Day celebration, the United States House of Representatives passed H.R. 51, the Washington, D.C. Admission Act, with a 216-208 vote.
“Today’s victory was historic, both for D.C. residents and for the cause of D.C. statehood,” Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said. “For only the second time in history, the House passed the D.C. statehood bill. With Democrats in control of the Senate and White House, and with 54% of Americans supporting the bill, we have never been in a better position to achieve D.C. statehood.”
Norton, who authored the bill, spoke on the House floor, however, was unable to vote. “Congress has both the moral obligation and the constitutional authority to pass H.R. 51,” she said. “This country was founded on the principles of no taxation without representation and consent of the governed, but D.C. residents are taxed without representation and cannot consent to the laws under which they, as American citizens, must live.”
Opponents again argued for retrocession to Maryland and one proposed that D.C. residents should no longer pay federal taxes, until a solution is reached. Despite not one Republican “yes” vote, statehood was pushed forward to the Senate, where it may fizzle in filibuster limbo.
Meanwhile, the Senate successfully passed an anti-Asian hate crimes bill with a vote of 94-1. The legislation provides for a new position at the Department of Justice to expedite a review of Covid-related hate crimes, after bigoted rhetoric permeated traditional and social media news cycles in the last year.
President Joe Biden, a proponent of statehood, continued to push his infrastructure plan at the Virtual Leaders Summit on Climate today. “[T]his moment is about more than preserving our planet; it’s also about providing a better future for all of us,” he said from the East Room of the White House. This year’s theme is “Restore Our Earth.”
“That’s why, when people talk about climate, I think jobs. Within our climate response lies an extraordinary engine of job creation and economic opportunity ready to be fired up. That’s why I’ve proposed a huge investment in American infrastructure and American innovation to tap the economic opportunity that climate change presents our workers and our communities.”
The stock market took a dip on Biden’s announcement to increase capital gains taxes on American millionaires.