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2 Chairman Kwame R. Brown Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr.

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6 Councilmember Michael A. Brown Councilmember Yvette Alexander
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10 Councilmember Marion Barry Councilmember Muriel Bowser
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14 Councilmember David Catania Councilmember Mary M. Cheh
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18 Councilmember Jack Evans Councilmember Jim Graham
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22 Councilmember Phil Mendelson Councilmember Tommy Wells
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25 A PROPOSED RESOLUTION
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28 IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
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32 To declare the sense of the Council to encourage our Delegate to the U.S. House of
33 Representatives to introduce legislation calling on Congress to use its powers under Article
34 IV, Section 3, of the United States Constitution and admit the District of Columbia as the
35 51st State of the Union Resolution of 2011.
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37 RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this resolution
38 may be cited as the “Sense of the Council on Calling on Congress to Admit the District of
39 Columbia as the 51st State of the Union Resolution of 2011”.
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41 Sec. 2. The Council finds that:

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 1 (a) The United States of America was founded on the belief that all people are

2 endowed with certain inalienable rights and that to secure these rights, governments are

3 instituted, deriving their powers from the consent of the governed.

4 (b) The rights of the residents of the District of Columbia are abridged when the

5 United States Congress imposes its will on local matters and denies us voting representation on

6 federal issues in both houses of the U.S. Congress.

7 (c) The people of the District of Columbia are the only Americans who still bear all

8 the responsibilities of citizenship, including local sovereignty and representation in both houses

9 of Congress, making the District, in effect, a colony under Congressional jurisdiction.

10 (d) Statehood will ensure that residents of the District of Columbia enjoy full sovereign

11 rights in state and local matters, voting representation in both houses of the U.S. Congress, and

12 an unrestricted vote for President, just like every other citizen of the United States of America.

13 (e) It is the sense of the Council to encourage our Delegate to the U.S. House of

14 Representatives to introduce legislation calling on Congress to use its powers under Article IV,

15 Section 3, of the United States Constitution and admit the District of Columbia as the 51st State

16 of the Union.

17 Sec. 4. The Council of the District of Columbia shall transmit a copy of this

18 resolution, upon its adoption, to District of Columbia Delegate to the U.S. House of

19 Representatives and the Mayor.

20 Sec. 5. This resolution shall take effect immediately.