DC 51!

Washington, DC could become the nation's 51st State.

The House of Representatives have passed a resolution that paves the way to make The District of Columbia, the 51st American state.

Washington, DC's current population is 710,000 residents. This federal district has a population greater than Wyoming. It is the federal capital of the United States.

The Douglass Commonwealth will replace the District of Columbia, to pay homage to civil rights/abolitionist pioneer Fredrick Douglass and eliminate the naming after Christopher Columbus.

The Democratic-led House of Representative voted in favor of making the federal district a state.

The bill, aptly named "H.R. 51" passed mostly on a party line vote of 232-180. One Democrat, the conservative Rep. Colin Peterson (D-MN) vote against it. He also voted against impeaching Donald J. Trump.

The bill, which now heads to the Republican-majority Senate, would allow for the admission of a new state, called Washington, Douglass Commonwealth, which will grant the proposed state two senators and likely one U.S. Representative. The state will establish state governorship and dissolve the mayor's role into just being a municipality role instead of a semi-governor role.

The state will be establish with a federal buildings and monuments solely in place of the U.S. government.

The bill will likely not pass through with Republicans in control and Trump will veto the legislation if it does pass.

The last time a statehood bill came through the House it was in 1993. It failed in the House.

Washington, DC mayor Muriel Bowser praised the decision.

"I was born without representation, but I swear -- I will not die without representation. Together, we will achieve DC statehood, and when we do, we will look back on this day and remember all who stood with us on the right side of history."

Republicans oppose DC statehood for two reasons. They believe it will give Democrats an advantage in the Senate.

The residents of Washington, DC are allowed to vote in the presidential election.

Muriel Bowser is pushing hard for DC Statehood.

The District of Columbia statehood movement is a political movement that advocates making the District of Columbia a U.S. state. The District of Columbia is a federal district under the direct jurisdiction of the United States Congress. Statehood would grant the District voting representation in the Congress and full control over local affairs. For most of the modern (1980-present) statehood movement, the new state's name would have been "New Columbia", although the Washington, D.C. Admission Act of 2020 refers to the proposed state as "Washington, Douglass Commonwealth."

Statehood for the District, which is also known as District of Columbia, might be achieved by an act of Congress, under the power granted to Congress by the United States Constitution to admit new states to the Union (Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1). However, there is some debate as to whether simple legislation would be sufficient to grant statehood to District of Columbia, which is the seat of the United States federal government.

There are five U.S. territories that are inhabited. Each territory has a U.S. Representative who acts as a non-voting delegate. They have no voting rights on the general floor. They only have committee voting and assignments.

The Americans who live in the U.S. territories of Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands cannot vote in the presidential election even though they're American citizens. The people of American Samoa are U.S. nationals and are not considered American citizens. They have to have special passports to enter the United States and cannot vote in the presidential election.

Note: American Samoans follow a Samoan culture which is totally independent of the U.S. government and laws. If the U.S. Supreme Court grants citizenship to those living in American Samoa, those who live outside of the territory can legally sue for land rights. Samoans have a controversial conservative culture. American Samoa is the only U.S. territory with its own immigration system (a system separate from the United States immigration system).

American Samoa also has a communal land system in which ninety percent of the land is communally owned; ownership is based on Samoan ancestry.