Home rule in Washington, D.C.

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Washington, D.C., District of Columbia
General information
Mayor:	Muriel Bowser
Mayor party:	Democratic
City council seats:	13
City website
Composition data (2019)
Population:	646,449
Gender:	52.6% Female
Race:	African American 49.5% White 43.4% Asian 3.9% American Indian and Alaska Native alone 0.6% Two or More 2.6%
Ethnicity:	Hispanic or Latino 10.1%
Median household income:	$64,267
High school graduation rate:	87.5%
College graduation rate:	51.2%
Related Washington, D.C. offices
Washington D.C. "Shadow" Representatives

Article 8, Section 1 of the United States Constitution allowed for the creation of a "District" that would become the seat of the federal government:

"To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings."

The District of Columbia was established on July 16, 1790. The authority that Congress has over the municipality has been debated and altered throughout the past three centuries.

Congress and the District

Home Rule Act of 1973

"District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973" allowed for the creation of a municipal government. The form of municipal government that city adopted was a mayor-council government. This form of government includes a city council, which serves as the city's primary legislative body, and a mayor, who serves as the city's chief executive. However, under the "Home Rule Act, the U.S. Congress still has the right to review and approve municipal legislation as well as the city's annual operating budget." The District is overseen by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), D.C.'s nonvoting member, sits on the committee.

Examples of oversight

Health Care Benefits Expansion Act of 1992

Although the ruling was amended in 2002, in 1992 the City Council voted to approve a "Health Care Benefits Expansion Act" to allow domestic partners to receive health insurance. With its oversight, Congress blocked the funding for this expansion.

Financial Responsibility and Management Assistance Act

In 1994, the Government Accountability Office projected a $1 billion budget shortfall by 1999. When Marion Barry took office again as mayor in 1995, he asked Congress for assistance in dealing with the shortfall. Congress, instead, established a Financial Control Board that would oversee all budgetary components for the District.

The District of Columbia Financial Responsibility and Management Assistance Act of 1995 gave power to the Control Board to "to override decisions by Mayor and the Council of the District of Columbia."

Statehood

As a district, Washington's congressional delegation of one House member has no power to vote on legislation. A number of attempts at turning the district into a state have happen during the nation's history. Additionally, some attempts have been made to give the district state-like representation in Congress. The closest the district ever came to either was in 1963, when 16 states ratified a constitutional amendment that would have given the district two senators and one congressional representative.

2020

In February 2020, the House Oversight Committee in the U.S. House held a vote regarding D.C. statehood. The committee passed the bill with a vote of 21-16 to advance the legislation to the House floor. The Hill reported that the bill proposed keeping the District of Columbia as the center of the U.S. federal government but would "limit it to areas where the Capitol, White House, Supreme Court and other federal buildings near the National Mall are located."

On June 26, 2020, the House of Representatives voted 232-180 to establish statehood for Washington, D.C., with two United States Senators and a voting member of the House. The vote was the first time a chamber of Congress passed legislation granting statehood to the District. Speaking on the House floor before the vote, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D) said, "[T]he fact is, people in the District of Columbia pay taxes, fight wars, risk their lives for our democracy — and yet in this place, they have no vote in the House and Senate."

Before 2020, the last time the House of Representatives voted on the possibility of statehood for Washington, D.C. was in 1993. The bill was defeated 277 to 153. At the time of the February 2020 committee vote, the new legislation had 223 co-sponsors in the House.

2014

For the first time in 21 years, the U.S. Senate held a committee hearing in September 2014 about the possibility of statehood for most of Washington, D.C.

Only one committee member, Chairman Tom Carper (D-DE) attended the full hearing. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), the committee's ranking Republican, was present for the first half-hour of the hearing.

The hearing was held on September 15 by the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and attended by a standing-room-only crowd that overflowed out of the room.

Washington, D.C., Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) and former Mayor Vincent Gray (D) headlined the event, said that the city of 645,000 people paid $4 billion in federal taxes in 2013 and that the people of Washington were being denied their basic rights.

See also

• United States Constitution
• Washington, D.C.
• Washington D.C. Marijuana Legalization, Initiative 71 (November 2014)

External links

Suggest a link

• Official City Website
• Office of the Mayor
• City Council
• Washington D.C. Municipal Code
• District of Columbia Board of Elections
• Chamber of Commerce
• Board of Education