As Washington, D.C., gears up for a statehood hearing, the mayor’s office has flanked iconic Pennsylvania Avenue with 140 flags sporting an extra star.
The hearing, planned for Thursday, will be the first full committee hearing on a District statehood bill since 1993. The bill calls for the city to be admitted to the United States “on equal footing with the other states.”
Employees with Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office put the flags up in the space between the White House and the Capitol prior to a Monday parade featuring military veterans. The event page for the parade calls on Congress to “grant voting rights and full representation to DC’s 702,000 residents, including 30,000 veterans.”
“DC veterans have served and died for their country, yet they lack representation in Congress,” Bowser, 47, said Sunday.
DC veterans have served and died for their country, yet they lack representation in Congress.
Join us tomorrow as we raise the 51 star flag, honor our vets and rally behind #DCStatehood: https://t.co/kvbhQvvuiL pic.twitter.com/fQ17GZQ5As
— Mayor Muriel Bowser (@MayorBowser) September 16, 2019
Although the District has a non-voting delegate in Congress, 82-year-old Eleanor Holmes Norton, the bill calls for the city to be allowed two voting senators and a congressperson.
Norton and Bowser led the parade in buses that cruised down Pennsylvania Avenue on Monday.
#HappeningNow @Fox5DC: @MayorBowser leads parade up Pennsylvania Avenue to advocate for Washington DC to be admitted as the 51st state in advance of congressional hearing this Thursday. #DCStatehoodNow group now holding rally. pic.twitter.com/v1CWSGUe9a
— Tom Fitzgerald (@FitzFox5DC) September 16, 2019
The hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. EST Thursday before the House Oversight and Reform Committee.
