The House of Representatives passed a bill last week that includes support for D.C. statehood.
H.R. 1, or the For the People Act, was passed along party lines on Friday by a vote of 234-193.
It’s a wide-ranging bill aimed at expanding voting access, revamping ethics investigations and would require presidential candidates to release tax documents. It also includes “extensive findings supporting statehood for D.C.” according to a statement from D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton.
It’s the first time that either chamber of Congress has passed a measure endorsing D.C. statehood.
“There is no other way to describe it — this is historic,” Norton said in a statement.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser applauded the bill’s passage as well, and thanked Norton for her tireless work on the issue.
“It is only fitting that this sweeping legislation to strengthen our democratic systems endorses granting full voting rights to Americans living in our nation’s capital,” said Bowser in a statement.
The For the People Act faces an uncertain future in the Senate, but Norton believes that the House showing its supposed for statehood will pave way for the Washington, D.C. Admission Act, which would make the district the country’s 51st state.
Also known as H.R. 51, that bill has the support of both House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings, the chair of the House Reform and Oversight Committee, has committed to holding a hearing on the bill this year.
“D.C. residents pay taxes, have fought in all of the nation’s wars, and have all the other obligations of citizenship,” said Bowser. “Now, we are demanding our fundamental rights as American citizens. I look forward to seeing Congresswoman Norton’s statehood bill brought to the floor later this year.”
