Senate Resolution No. 484

BY: Senator SANDERS

SUPPORTING admitting Washington, D.C. into the
Union as a state of the United States of America

WHEREAS, The people living on the land that would eventually be
designated as the District of Columbia were provided the right to vote
for representation in Congress when the United States Constitution was
ratified in 1788; and

WHEREAS, The passage of the Organic Act of 1801 placed the District
of Columbia under the exclusive authority of the United States Congress
and abolished residents' right to vote for members of Congress and the
President and Vice President of the United States; and

WHEREAS, Residents of the District of Columbia were granted the
right to vote for the President and Vice President through passage of
the 23rd Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1961; and

WHEREAS, As of 2021, the U.S. Census Bureau data estimates that the
District of Columbia's population at approximately 689,545 residents is
comparable to the populations of Wyoming (576,851), Vermont (643,077),
Alaska (733,391), and North Dakota (779,094); and

WHEREAS, Residents of the District of Columbia share all the
responsibilities of United States citizenship, including paying more
federal taxes than residents of 22 states, service on federal juries,
and defending the United States as members of the United States armed
forces in every war since the War for Independence, yet they are denied
full representation in Congress; and

WHEREAS, The residents of the District of Columbia themselves have
endorsed statehood for the District of Columbia and passed a
District-wide referendum on November 8, 2016, which favored statehood by
86%; and

WHEREAS, No other democratic nation denies the right of
self-government, including participation in its national legislature, to
the residents of its capital; and

WHEREAS, The residents of the District of Columbia lack full
democracy, equality, and citizenship enjoyed by the residents of the 50
states; and

WHEREAS, The United States Congress repeatedly has interfered with
the District of Columbia's limited self-government by enacting laws that
affect the District of Columbia's expenditure of its locally raised tax
revenue, including barring the usage of locally raised revenue, thus
violating the fundamental principle that states and local governments
are best suited to enact legislation that represents the will of their
citizens; and

WHEREAS, Although the District of Columbia has passed consecutive
balanced budgets since FY1997, it still faces the possibility of being

shut down yearly because of Congressional deliberations over the federal
budget; and

WHEREAS, District of Columbia Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and
Delaware U.S. Senator Tom Carper introduced in the 118th Congress H.R.
51 and S. 51, the Washington, D.C. Admission Act, that provides that
the State of Washington, D.C. would have all the rights of citizenship
as taxpaying American citizens, including two Senators and at least one
House member; and

WHEREAS, The United Nations Human Rights Committee has called on the
United States Congress to address the District of Columbia's lack of
political equality, and the Organization of American States has declared
the disenfranchisement of the District of Columbia residents a violation
of its charter agreement, to which the United States is a signatory;
now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the State of New York supports admitting Washington,
D.C. into the Union as a state of the United States of America; and be
it further

RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be sent to the President of
the United States of America, the Vice President of the United States of
America, the Speaker of the United States Congress, the President Pro
Tempore of the United States Senate, and the members of the New York
Congressional Delegation.