Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., bolstered by Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, reintroduced a bill to get the District of Columbia its own state quarter.
The bill would allow the District to put a design of its choice on the reverse side of a quarter and would give United States territories the same right.
Norton said D.C. was overlooked when Congress approved giving each state its own coin in 1998.
“To leave (District residents) out of mere exercises of citizenship is to seem to deny the citizenship they revere and share with other Americans,” Norton said on the House floor.
Twenty-one billion quarters representing 40 of the states have been minted so far. The coins are minted in the order the states were ratified.This is the fifth time Norton has introduced the bill during the last decade. It has passed the House four times, but has been blocked in the Senate.
