Washington, D.C. Admission Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, I am honored to join in a colloquy with some of my colleagues today on this urgent issue to really talk about the central function of our democracy, whether the ideals of this Nation are real for every American.

Now, if you cut me, I am going to bleed Jersey. But let me tell you very plainly that I am proud to have grown up in Jersey, but I am also proud to have been born in Washington, DC. This is where my parents met after college. This is where they fell in love. Their first date was at the Jefferson Memorial, at the paddle boats there at the Reflecting Pool. They, there, remember--telling me--just the love they had for each other that was already dawning, but also this fierce allegiance to this incredible community that is Washington, DC. My mom talked about the activism that was here. She was working for the public schools as a speech pathologist, and she talked about this patriotic feel that she had, especially when she was helping to organize the March on Washington. The words on the Jefferson Memorial, where my parents had their first date, at the end of Declaration of Independence, say: ``[W]e mutually pledge . . . our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.''

That is what we are called to pledge to one another, but for too long the people of this city have not had the honor, the privileges, the equal citizenship rights that so many others in every State in our Union, in all parts of our democracy, enjoy. These are rights, as my colleague says, that Washington, DC--in fact, disproportionate to many other States--people from this community have bled for and died for.

This city is an extraordinary place. It is a community. It outnumbers, in fact, in population other States. And we believe that the ideals of one person, one vote, no taxation without representation--that all of these are rights being denied fellow Americans. Where is the honor in that?

Veterans and servicemembers living here in DC did indeed fight for us, put their lives on the line for us, but do not have equal citizenship rights.

The people of DC pay both local and Federal taxes that go to help the people in red States and blue States. They are a city that pays more taxes than they are necessarily receiving back, but when the people of DC need help, when they need an advocate with voting power, they don't have one in this body or in the one across the hall.

The lack of representation really has consequences--serious ones-- that significantly decreases DC's leverage in getting laws passed and securing vital resources for its residents. We saw this firsthand in the first COVID-19 stimulus bill. Washington, DC, received $725 million less in critical aid than other less populous States. That was funding needed for Washington, DC, first responders, for COVID-19 tests, and other important lifesaving services. They were treated as second-class citizens.

How is this fair? How is this just? How is this sacred honor? And how can this be partisan? These are our sacrosanct values for those of us on both sides of the aisle. This is how our democracy was intended to function. These were some of the elements of the Revolutionary War.

I am hard-pressed to believe that my colleagues on either side of the aisle don't recognize that to deny the people of Washington, DC, representation is contrary to the values that we state regularly on this floor. Making DC a State is truly a civil rights issue, and it is also an issue of racial justice.

DC is a majority-minority city, and the people of this city deserve the same opportunity that other less populated States have to make their voices heard in Congress. This is especially urgent as we are seeing so many States around the country enact sweeping voting laws intended to make it harder for the DC majority--Black and Brown folks-- to even vote.

As U.S. Senators, we have an obligation not just to pass laws but to be stewards of democratic ideals and principals. We took an oath to that. Making DC a State is not just a matter of civil rights for DC. It is about all of us because our democracy will only survive as long as its true representation is that of all of its people. Truly, we know in this Nation--it has been said by greater leaders before us--that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

The people of DC have made clear what they want, saying it loudly. They deserve full citizenship rights. They deserve the right to vote. They deserve the right to have representation. They want to be the 51st State. They should be the 51st State.

My parents lived for many years in this city, and I heard about DC statehood as a little boy growing up in New Jersey. For them, it was a matter of dignity and respect. It was a matter of valuing this community and the richness of its people. To them, it is a shortfall in the evolution of our democracy that the people of this great city should be denied the very ideals that are written on the Jefferson Memorial.

I urge my colleagues to move on this and to grant this DC statehood and to afford them the sacred honor that all Americans deserve.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source