House Oversight Committee Advances Bill That Would Make DC The 51st State

The House Oversight Committee on Wednesday voted to advance H.R. 51, the Washington, D.C. Admission Act, to the full chamber.

The 25 to 19 vote was along party lines, with Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed, and followed several hours of debate. Despite its advancement and upcoming likely passage in the Democratic House, it faces total Republican opposition in the Senate where it would need 60 votes to overcome an all but certain filibuster.

“Today is an historic day for our country – and our democracy,” said New York Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney, the committee’s chair, in her opening remarks ahead of the vote. “For only the second time in a generation, we will vote on whether the hundreds of thousands of American citizens will finally have their voices heard in Congress.”

The House of Representatives passed the bill during the last Congress, but it failed to even come up for a vote in the Republican Senate.