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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The people living on the land that would
3eventually be designated as the District of Columbia were
4provided the right to vote for representation in Congress when
5the United States Constitution was ratified in 1788; and
 
6    WHEREAS, The passage of the Organic Act of 1801 placed the
7District of Columbia under the exclusive authority of the
8United States Congress and abolished residents' right to vote
9for members of Congress and the President and Vice President
10of the United States; and
 
11    WHEREAS, Residents of the District of Columbia were
12granted the right to vote for the President and Vice President
13through passage of the Twenty–Third Amendment to the United
14States Constitution in 1961; and
 
15    WHEREAS, As of 2020, the U.S. Census Bureau data estimates
16that the District of Columbia's population is approximately
17712,000 residents and is comparable to the populations of
18Wyoming (582,000), Vermont (623,000), Alaska (731,000), and
19North Dakota (765,000); and
 
20    WHEREAS, Residents of the District of Columbia share all
21the responsibilities of United States citizenship, including

 

 

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1paying more federal taxes than residents of 22 states, serving
2on federal juries, and defending the United States as members
3of the United States Armed Forces in every war since the War
4for Independence; yet, they are denied full representation in
5Congress; and
 
6    WHEREAS, The residents of the District of Columbia
7themselves have endorsed statehood for the District of
8Columbia and passed a District–wide referendum on November 8,
92016, which favored statehood by 86%; and
 
10    WHEREAS, No other democratic nation denies the right of
11self–government, including participation in its national
12legislature, to the residents of its capital; and
 
13    WHEREAS, The residents of the District of Columbia lack
14the full democracy, equality, and citizenship enjoyed by the
15residents of the 50 states; and
 
16    WHEREAS, The United States Congress has interfered
17repeatedly with the District of Columbia's limited
18self–government by enacting laws that affect the District of
19Columbia's expenditure of its locally-raised tax revenue; this
20includes barring the usage of locally-raised revenue, thus
21violating the fundamental principle that states and local
22governments are best suited to enact legislation that

 

 

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1represents the will of their citizens; and
 
2    WHEREAS, Although the District of Columbia has passed
3consecutive balanced budgets since FY 1997, it still faces the
4possibility of being shut down yearly because of Congressional
5deliberations over the federal budget; and
 
6    WHEREAS, In the 117th Congress, District of Columbia
7Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and Delaware U.S. Senator Tom
8Carper introduced H.R. 51 and S. 51, the Washington, D.C.
9Admission Act, that provides that the State of Washington,
10D.C. would have all the rights of citizenship as taxpaying
11American citizens, including two Senators and at least one
12House member; and
 
13    WHEREAS, The United Nations Human Rights Committee has
14called on the United States Congress to address the District
15of Columbia's lack of political equality, and the Organization
16of American States has declared the disenfranchisement of the
17District of Columbia residents a violation of its charter
18agreement to which the United States is a signatory;
19therefore, be it
 
20    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL
21ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF
22REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING HEREIN, that we urge the members of

 

 

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1the United States Congress to enact federal legislation
2granting statehood to the people of Washington, D.C.; and be
3it further
 
4    RESOLVED, That the State of Illinois supports admitting
5Washington, D.C. into the Union as a state of the United States
6of America.