House committee approves DC statehood bill

The House Oversight and Reform Committee approved legislation on Wednesday that would make Washington, D.C., a state, sending the measure to the House for a vote later this month.

The House Oversight and Reform Committee passed H.R. 51, also known as the Washington, D.C., Admission Act, in a 25-19 party-line vote.

The legislation, which has 215 co-sponsors, is likely to pass the House on a narrow, party-line vote, with all Republicans voting against it.

However, it will likely stall in an evenly divided Senate, where Democrats lack the 60 votes to overcome a Senate filibuster. It is also not clear that every Democrat in the Senate will back it.

After the committee vote, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) said in a statement that his Senate counterpart bill, S. 51, now has 44 Democratic co-sponsors, the highest yet for such legislation in the upper chamber.

Notably absent from the list, however, are moderate Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.), both of whom are opposed to nixing the filibuster.

Sponsored by D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), the legislation takes a novel approach to D.C. statehood by shrinking the capital to the National Mall, monuments, White House and other federal buildings. The rest of the city would become a new state.