Norton Says 245 Years After the Nation's Independence, D.C. Statehood is Overdue

Statement

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today said that as the nation celebrated 245 years since declaring its independence from Great Britain in part because of taxation without representation, the Senate must take the nation's founding slogan to heart and pass the District of Columbia statehood bill.

"The continuation of taxation without representation in the nation's capital not only violates a main pillar of the revolution that sent our Founders to war," Norton said. "Allowing the nearly 700,000 American citizens who live in the nation's capital to continue to live as second-class citizens betrays the spirit of July 4th itself. On no U.S. holiday is our inequality more deeply felt or more at war with the nation's democratic values than on July 4th. District residents not only pay federal taxes without voting representation in Congress, but pay more federal taxes per capita than the citizens of any state in the nation. July 4th summons our moral outrage to continue our fight for statehood and full equality for the District of Columbia."

The House has passed the D.C. statehood bill twice, most recently on April 22nd, and Norton gave opening remarks at the June 22nd Senate hearing on the bill.

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