The state of the other Washington

Washington’s second congressional district, ours, has just over 711,000 people. Every congressional district has roughly the same population. Our representative, Rick Larsen, votes for and against all kinds of things, from funding for airports to money for zoos, whether or not zoos are in the district. He argues for blueberry farmers and inserts legislation in the Defense Authorization Act requiring real time monitoring of U.S. Navy Growler jets. On this and much more he often works with Washington’s two senators, Maria Cantwell and Patty Murphy.

Washington’s second congressional district has more people than at least two states, Vermont, and Wyoming. Its population is probably slightly larger than the District of Columbia, Washington, D.C., which coincidently, has about 715,000 residents.

In Congress, Washington, D.C. is represented by a delegate who participates but is a non-voting member, along with five permanently inhabited U.S. territory representatives for American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. None of the six are states, but only Washington, D.C. is not “permanently inhabited” and part of the continental United States.

Neither the District nor the territories have representation in the Senate.

Washington, D.C. citizens resemble you and me in every way and are governed by the same laws as people in La Conner. There is only one critical difference: they are not represented by voting members of Congress. The laws Congress passes affect Washington, D.C. citizens, in fact in more specific ways than any other jurisdiction, because Congress has financial and legislative control over much of the administration and management of the District. In the old days, say before 1776, this was called taxation without representation, and tyranny. In fact, Washington, D.C. license plates have the slogan “Taxation without Representation” printed on them.

The District’s residents pay federal income taxes but their non-voting member in the House of Representatives does not vote on federal budget bills – or anything else.

Last Thursday the House voted along party lines for H.R. 51, to make D.C. the 51st state while preserving the land around the White House, U.S, Capitol and National Mall as a federal district. The state would be named Washington, Douglass Commonwealth, after abolitionist Frederick Douglass who lived in the District from 1877 until his death in 1895.

To become law, the Senate would have to pass a companion bill. That is unlikely unless the rule on the filibuster, which requires 60 votes to end debate, is changed.

No House Republican voted for H.R. 51. In 2020 the identical bill died in the then Republican-controlled Senate.

In the spirit of our founding principles calling for no taxation without representation and slogans still hoisted on flags today, such as “Don’t Tread on Me,” the Weekly News supports statehood for the District of Columbia. It is an issue whose moment came a long time ago.

Yes, race is a part of it. As always with race in America, so is fairness and justice. The Weekly News supports fairness and justice and the continued efforts necessary to reckon honestly with our racial history.