1. United States
2. Mass.
3. Letter

Pass HB 51, the Washington, D.C. Admission Act, and grant full statehood to the 700,000 people who live in the District of Columbia. These residents pay federal taxes, serve in the military, and live under laws they have no meaningful vote in making. That is not a technicality. It is a democratic failure. HB 51 fixes it by admitting the State of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth into the Union on equal footing with every other state, giving residents two senators and a representative in Congress, and transferring full legislative authority over local matters to a state government that answers to them. The bill is carefully constructed. It preserves a reduced federal Capital enclave covering the White House, the Capitol, and the Supreme Court, satisfying the constitutional requirement for a federal seat of government. Existing protections for Medicaid funding, college scholarships, and court employee benefits carry over without interruption. Congress has admitted 37 states under Article IV. There is no principled reason the 38th cannot be Washington, D.C.