US House approves bill to make DC 51st state

US House lawmakers made history Friday by voting for Washington to become the nation's 51st state, but the move, a push for equal voting rights for the capital's residents, is doomed in the Senate.

"Today, we will bring our nation closer to the founding ideals that all are created equal and all deserve a say in our democracy." The statehood vote is the first in Congress since 1993. Never has such a bill – appropriately titled HR-51 – cleared the House or Senate. Republicans who oppose the effort say it runs counter to the intent of the framers of the US Constitution who sought to create a unique federal district not influenced by any state.

But unlike other American citizens, Washington residents have never had voting representatives in Congress, leading the city to print the famous, colonial-era battle cry, "Taxation without representation," on its vehicle license plates.

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House adopts bill to make DC 51st state; Senate GOP opposesLawmakers approved the bill, 232-180, largely along party lines, marking the first time a chamber of Congress has passed a D.C. statehood bill. The legislation now goes to the Republican-controlled Senate, where it faces insurmountable opposition from GOP leaders. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the district
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